'Talk Therapy' Can Alter Brain Activity, Research Shows

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'Talk Therapy' Can Alter Brain Activity, Research Shows

Physical changes occur in brains of social anxiety patients receiving

psychotherapy

HealthDay/ScoutNews LLC

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Psychotherapy triggers changes in the

brains of people with social anxiety disorder, finds a new study.

Medication and psychotherapy are used to treat people with social anxiety, a

common disorder in which people experience overwhelming fear of interacting with

others and of being harshly judged. But there's been far less research on the

neurological effects of psychotherapy (talk therapy) than on medication-induced

brain changes.

The new Canadian study included 25 adults with social anxiety disorder who

underwent 12 weekly sessions of group cognitive behavior therapy, which is meant

to help patients identify and challenge their unhealthy thinking patterns.

These clinical group patients were compared to two control groups who tested

either extremely high or low for symptoms of social anxiety but received no

psychotherapy.

All of the participants underwent a series of electroencephalograms (EEGs),

which measure brain electrical interactions. The researchers focused on the

amount of delta-beta coupling, which increased with rising anxiety.

Before treatment, the clinical group's delta-beta correlations were similar to

those of the high-anxiety control group and much higher than those of the

low-anxiety control group. When measured at a point about midway through

psychotherapy, improvements in the patients' brains matched symptom improvement

reported by both doctors and patients. After they completed psychotherapy, the

patients' EEG results were similar to those of the low-anxiety group.

The study is scheduled for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal

Psychological Science.

" Laypeople tend to think that talk therapy is not 'real,' while they associate

medications with hard science and physiologic change, " lead author Vladimir

Miskovic, a McMaster University doctoral candidate, said in a news release from

the Association for Psychological Science. " But at the end of the day, the

effectiveness of any program must be mediated by the brain and the nervous

system. If the brain does not change, there won't be a change in behavior or

emotion. "