Researchers suggest psychotherapy may mend brain changes in social phobia

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London: Researchers have suggested that psychotherapy may help treat patients who are suffering from a social phobia by removing impairments in the key brain structures that are involved in processing and regulating emotions.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behaviour patterns or treat mood disorders such as depression.

Annette Bruhl from the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich (PUK) said, "Psychotherapy normalises brain changes associated with social anxiety disorder".

Nearly one in 10 people are affected by social anxiety disorder, defined as when fears and anxiety in social situations significantly impair everyday life and cause intense suffering. For example, talking in front of a larger group can be one typical feared situation.

The study showed that in such patients, the frontal and lateral brain areas where excessive anxiety is regulated as impaired.

Bruhl added, "We were able to show that structural changes occur in brain areas linked to self control and emotion regulation".

But, strategies by CBT that are aimed at regulating emotions can restore the balance between cortical and subcortical brain areas.

The more successful the treatment, the stronger brain changes, the researchers said, in the paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

In addition, CBT treatment also led to better interconnectivity between brain areas involved in processing emotions.

For the study, the team investigated structural brain changes in patients suffering from social anxiety disorder after a specific ten-week course of CBT.

Using magnetic resonance imaging the participants' brains were examined before and after CBT.

(With IANS inputs)