Psychotherapy is changing our brain

How the brain reacts to psychotherapy

15/04/2015

In depression, neurobiological effects occur in the brain, which are particularly noticeable by hyperactivity in certain regions. A study has now shown that these hyperactivities are normalized by psychotherapy. After an eight-month treatment, the patients showed no differences in the limbic system compared to the healthy study participants in the control group more, the researchers write in the journal „Plos one“.

Depression changes the limbic regions in the brain
„The human brain responds to depression. In particular, in the amygdala, in the striatum and in other limbic regions, hyperactivities typically occur“, reports Svenja Taubner from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Klagenfurt. Together with researchers from the universities of Lübeck, Innsbruck, Heidelberg, Ulm, Bremen, Bochum and Delmenhorst, Taubner was working on a study on the changes in the brain. „We wanted to find out if psychotherapy, in our case a psychodynamic therapy, has an effect on these brain activities.“

In the study, 18 patients suffering from recurrent depression who did not receive drug therapy were studied at two time points: the first was at baseline, the second after eight months of psychotherapy. In addition to the depressive study participants, there was a control group consisting of 17 healthy individuals. The researchers used individualized impulses in all participants, which produced hyperactivities in certain regions of the brain in depressive subjects prior to psychotherapy. These included phrases like „You would like to be accepted by others“ or „That's why you do a lot for her“.

After eight months of psychotherapy, researchers found no differences in the brain of previously depressive and healthy controls
„At the first examination, patients showed increased activity in several limbic and subcortical regions, including the amygdala and basal ganglia, when compared to the control group when confronted with the sentences“, the researchers write in the journal. „In the second study, the differences in brain activity between patients and controls were no longer apparent. At the same time, the patients' depression scores had improved significantly.“

Taubner's conclusion: „We were able to show that the changes in the limbic system, which are triggered by individually tailored and clinically relevant content-reflecting stimuli, can be normalized after only 8 months.“ (Ag)