Category: Medicine

What are some recent insights in the field of neuroscience that may have significant influence on the practice of psychotherapy?

Answer by Carlo Carandang:

On fMRI, specific phobia is associated with hyperactivity of the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula.  After 2 weeks of exposure therapy, there was significant reduction of the hyperactivity in these brain areas (Goossens et al., 2007). In general, anxiety is associated with increased amygdala activity, and exposure therapy reduces this hyperactivity. This highlights the importance of exposure in anxiety treatment…face your fears, otherwise it is avoidance, and we know what avoidance leads to.

What are some recent insights in the field of neuroscience that may have significant influence on the practice of psychotherapy?

Canucks Versus Yankees: The Case For Universal Health Care Over Private Health Care And How Psychiatry Benefits

http://omicsgroup.org/journals/canucks-versus-yankees-the-case-for-universal-health-care-over-private-health-care-and-how-psychiatry-benefits-2167-1044.1000126.php?aid=14064

Data Safety Monitoring Boards and Other Study Methodologies that Address Subject Safety in “High-Risk” Therapeutic Trials in Youths

http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ763019

“Functional” and “Organic”: It Is Getting Harder to Tell the Difference

http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=1458