After nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, parts of patients’ brains decrease in both volume and activity, and anxiety is reduced.
Adam Rifkin stashed this in Brain
Stashed in: Science!, Anxiety, Mental Health, Reference, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mental Health
Brain volume changes after just nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy:
After just nine weeks of internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy, the brain of patients suffering from social anxiety disorder changes in volume. Anxiety is reduced, and parts of the patients’ brains decrease in both volume and activity.
This study could help us develop more effective therapies for one of the most common problems in mental health.
We have known for many years that the brain is remarkably adaptable. For instance, previous studies have shown that juggling and video games affect brain volume. However many questions about how the brain adapts remain unanswered.
The researchers found that in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), brain volume and activity in the amygdala decrease as a result of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT). The results are presented in Translational Psychiatry, a Nature publication.
“The greater the improvement we saw in the patients, the smaller the size of their amygdalae. The study also suggests that the reduction in volume drives the reduction in brain activity”, says doctoral student Kristoffer NT Månsson, who led the study together with Linköping colleague Gerhard Andersson and researchers from the Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University, Umeå University and Stockholm University.
7:30 PM Feb 03 2016