Cognitive behavioural therapy can alter brain activity in kids with anxiety issue: Study
Maryland, US: Researchers at the National Institutes of Health discovered overactivation in multiple brain regions, including the frontal and parietal lobes and the amygdala, in unmedicated children with anxiety disorders.
They also demonstrated that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) improved clinical symptoms as well as brain function.
The findings shed light on the brain mechanisms that underpin the acute effects of cognitive behavioural therapy in treating one of the most common mental diseases.
The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, was led by experts from the National Institute of Mental Health.
"We know that CBT is effective. These findings help us understand how CBT works, a critical first step in improving clinical outcomes," said senior author Melissa Brotman, PhD, Chief of the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit in the NIMH Intramural Research Program.
Sixty-nine unmedicated children diagnosed with an anxiety disorder underwent 12 weeks of CBT following an established protocol. CBT, which involves changing dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours through gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli, is the current gold standard for treating anxiety disorders in children.
The researchers used clinician-rated measures to examine the change in children's anxiety symptoms and clinical functioning from pre- to post-treatment. They also used task-based fMRI to look at whole-brain changes before and after treatment and compare those to brain activity in 62 similarly aged children without anxiety.
Children with anxiety showed greater activity in many brain regions, including cortical areas in the frontal and parietal lobes, which are important for cognitive and regulatory functions, such as attention and emotion regulation.
The researchers also observed elevated activity in deeper limbic areas like the amygdala, which are essential for generating strong emotions, such as anxiety and fear.
Following three months of CBT treatment, children with anxiety showed a clinically significant decrease in anxiety symptoms and improved functioning. Increased activation seen before treatment in many frontal and parietal brain regions also improved after CBT, declining to levels equal to or lower than those of non-anxious children.
According to the researchers, the reduced activation in these brain areas may reflect more efficient engagement of cognitive control networks following CBT.
