Browse > Article

The Relationship between Psychotherapy and Neurobiological Findings  

Oh, Hyun-Young (Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Hanyang University Guri Hospital)
Park, Yong-Chon (Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Hanyang University Guri Hospital)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry / v.19, no.1, 2012 , pp. 1-8 More about this Journal
Abstract
The mechanism of psychotherapy is explained by the recent developments in neuroscience and neuroimaging. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of psychotherapy and to discuss the future of psychotherapy improvement with the help of advances of the neurobiological findings in psychotherapy. For this study, we investigated a wide range of materials. We searched for various researches on psychotherapy, brain, and neurobiology. In addition to the conventional psychodynamic psychotherapy, we investigated research findings on cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Moreover, based on the actual experiences of treating patients, we speculated the neurobiological mechanisms of the process and results of psychotherapy. With the development of neuroscience, we are now able to understand the personal consciousness, unconsciousness and developmental process. Also subdividing the disease is made possible. Personalized treatment has become available, and we are able to predict the prognosis of patients. Our memories are composed by implicit memory and explicit memory. By psychotherapy, we can consciously remember explicit memory, and it becomes easier to explore implicit memory through free association. Through psychotherapy, we will also be able to learn the effect of acquired environment and experience. Psychotherapy is able to correct human behaviors by modifying the memories. Through the regulation of emotions, it becomes possible to modify the memories and correct the behaviors. In this process, doctor-patient relationship is the main factor which cause positive treatment effects. Furthermore imagination therapy or unconscious, non-verbal stimuli could bring about positive treatment effects. Now psychotherapy could be explained and studied by neuroscientific researches. In this sense, we could provide the direction of future advances in neuroscience by the neurobiological understanding of psychotherapy.
Keywords
Psychotherapy; Neurobiology; Memory; Unconsciousness; Emotion;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Ekman P, Sorenson ER, Friesen WV. Pan-cultural elements in facial displays of emotion. Science 1969;164:86-88.   DOI
2 Hull AM. Neuroimaging findings in post-traumatic stress disorder. Systematic review. Br J Psychiatry 2002;181:102-110.   DOI
3 Hirshfeld-Becker DR, Biederman J, Calltharp S, Rosenbaum ED, Faraone SV, Rosenbaum JF. Behavioral inhibition and disinhibition as hypothesized precursors to psychopathology: implications for pediatric bipolar disorder. Biol Psychiatry 2003;53:985-999.   DOI
4 Schwartz CE, Wright CI, Shin LM, Kagan J, Rauch SL. Inhibited and uninhibited infants "grown up": adult amygdalar response to novelty. Science 2003;300:1952-1953.   DOI
5 Nachmias M, Gunnar M, Mangelsdorf S, Parritz RH, Buss K. Behavioral inhibition and stress reactivity: the moderating role of attachment security. Child Dev 1996;67:508-522.   DOI
6 Alexopoulos GS, Kiosses DN, Choi SJ, Murphy CF, Lim KO. Frontal white matter microstructure and treatment response of late-life depression: a preliminary study. Am J Psychiatry 2002;159:1929-1932.   DOI
7 Mayberg HS, Brannan SK, Mahurin RK, Jerabek PA, Brickman JS, Tekell JL, et al. Cingulate function in depression: a potential predictor of treatment response. Neuroreport 1997;8:1057-1061.   DOI
8 McGuire PK, Bench CJ, Frith CD, Marks IM, Frackowiak RS, Dolan RJ. Functional anatomy of obsessive-compulsive phenomena. Br J Psychiatry 1994;164:459-468.   DOI
9 Rauch SL, Jenike MA, Alpert NM, Baer L, Breiter HC, Savage CR, et al. Regional cerebral blood flow measured during symptom provocation in obsessive-compulsive disorder using oxygen 15-labeled carbon dioxide and positron emission tomography. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1994;51:62-70.   DOI
10 Brody AL, Saxena S, Schwartz JM, Stoessel PW, Maidment K, Phelps ME, et al. FDG-PET predictors of response to behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy in obsessive compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Res 1998;84:1-6.   DOI
11 Grosjean B. From synapse to psychotherapy: the fascinating evolution of neuroscience. Am J Psychother 2005;59:181-197.
12 Bondi MW, Kaszniak AW. Implicit and explicit memory in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 1991;13:339-358.   DOI
13 Squire LR, Knowlton B, Musen G. The structure and organization of memory. Annu Rev Psychol 1993;44:453-495.   DOI
14 Sapolsky RM. Stress and plasticity in the limbic system. Neurochem Res 2003;28:1735-1742.   DOI
15 LeDoux JE. The emotional brain: the mysterious understandings of emotional life. New York: Simon & Schuster;1996. p.59.
16 Amaral DG. The primate amygdala and the neurobiology of social behavior: implications for understanding social anxiety. Biol Psychiatry 2002;51:11-17.   DOI
17 Amini F, Lewis T, Lannon R, Louie A, Baumbacher G, McGuinness T, et al. Affect, attachment, memory: contributions toward psychobiologic integration. Psychiatry 1996;59:213-239.   DOI
18 Heim C, Nemeroff CB. Neurobiology of early life stress: clinical studies. Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry 2002;7:147-159.   DOI
19 Kaufman J, Plotsky PM, Nemeroff CB, Charney DS. Effects of early adverse experiences on brain structure and function: clinical implications. Biol Psychiatry 2000;48:778-790.   DOI
20 Penza KM, Heim C, Nemeroff CB. Neurobiological effects of childhood abuse: implications for the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety. Arch Womens Ment Health 2003;6:15-22.   DOI
21 Frank JD, Frank JB. Persuasion and healing: a comparative study of psychotherapy. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1993. p.44.
22 Plotsky PM, Owens MJ, Nemeroff CB. Psychoneuroendocrinology of depression. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Psychiatr Clin North Am 1998;21:293-307.   DOI
23 Aggleton JP. The Amygdala: neurobiological aspect of emotion, memory, and mental dysfunction. New work: Wiley-Liss;2000. p.1-66.
24 Bouton ME. A learning theory perspective on lapse, relapse, and the maintenance of behavior change. Health Psychol 2000;19:57-63.   DOI
25 Leake GJ, King SA. Effect of counselor expectations on alcoholic recovery. Alcohol Health and Research World 1977;11:16-22.
26 Eriksson PS, Perfilieva E, Bjork-Eriksson T, Alborn AM, Nordborg C, Peterson DA, et al. Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus. Nat Med 1998;4:1313-1317.   DOI
27 Gross CG. Neurogenesis in the adult brain: death of a dogma. Nat Rev Neurosci 2000;1:67-73.   DOI
28 Davidson RJ, Jackson DC, Kalin NH. Emotion, plasticity, context, and regulation: perspectives from affective neuroscience. Psychol Bull 2000;126:890-909.   DOI
29 Park YC. Introduction: psychiatrist and psychotherapy. J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc 2010;49 Suppl 1:S5-S8.
30 Haist F, Bowden Gore J, Mao H. Consolidation of human memory over decades revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Nat Neurosci 2001;4:1139-1145.   DOI
31 Dudai Y. Memory, from A to Z. New York: Oxford University Press; 2004. p.91-94.
32 Morgan A. What is narrative therapy? An easy to read introduction. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre;2000. p.5-10.
33 Brahams D. "Repressed memories" and the law. Lancet 2000;356: 358.   DOI
34 McGaugh JL, Cahill L, Roozendaal B. Involvement of the amygdala in memory storage: interaction with other brain systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1996;93:13508-13514.   DOI
35 Loftus E. Our changeable memories: legal and practical implications. Nat Rev Neurosci 2003;4:231-234.   DOI
36 Loftus EF. Creating false memories. Sci Am 1997;277:70-75.
37 Damasio A. Fundamental feelings. Nature 2001;413:781.   DOI
38 Linehan MM. Cognitive behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford Press;1993. p.97-198.
39 Wilson JP, Raphael B, Meldrum L, Bedosky C, Sigman M. Preventing PTSD in trauma survivors. Bull Menninger Clin 2000;64:181-196.
40 Norcross JC, Goldfield MR. Handbook of psychotherapy integration. New York: Basic Books;2005. p.94-129.
41 Nelson CA, Luciana M. Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press;2001. p.599-616.
42 Kosslyn SM, Ganis G, Thompson WL. Neural foundations of imagery. Nat Rev Neurosci 2001;2:635-642.   DOI
43 Kreiman G, Koch C, Fried I. Imagery neurons in the human brain. Nature 2000;408:357-361.   DOI
44 O'Craven KM, Kanwisher N. Mental imagery of faces and places activates corresponding stiimulus-specific brain regions. J Cogn Neurosci 2000;12:1013-1023.   DOI
45 Ball TM, Shapiro DE, Monheim CJ, Weydert JA. A pilot study of the use of guided imagery for the treatment of recurrent abdominal pain in children. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2003;42:527-532.   DOI
46 Shapiro F. Eye movement desensitization: a new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 1989;20:211-217.   DOI
47 Saul LJ. The Childhood Emotional Pattern and Psychodynamic Therapy. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company;1980. p.273.
48 Shapiro F. Efficacy of the eye movement desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories. Journal of Traumatic Stress 1989;2:199-223.   DOI
49 Collins AM, Loftus EF. A Spreading Activation Theory of Semantic Processing. Psychological Review 1975;82:407-428.   DOI
50 Vallacher RR, Nowar A, Froehlich M, Rockloff M. The dynamic of self-evaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Review 2002; 6:370-379.   DOI
51 Cappas NM, Andres-Hymen R, Davidson L. What psychotherapists can begin to learn from neuroscience: seven principles of a brain-based psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, training 2005;42:374-383.   DOI
52 Etkin A, Klemenhagen KC, Dudman JT, Rogan MT, Hen R, Kandel ER, et al. Individual differences in trait anxiety predict the response of the basolateral amygdala to unconsciously processed fearful faces. Neuron 2004;44:1043-1055.   DOI
53 Etkin A, Pittenger C, Polan HJ, Kandel ER. Toward a neurobiology of psychotherapy: basic science and clinical applications. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2005;17:145-158.   DOI