Cognitive behavioral therapy changes brain activity and reduces symptoms in children with anxiety disorders. This has been shown by a published study. American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP).
62 healthy children and 69 children diagnosed with anxiety disorder who had not received any treatment before were included in the study. They completed a 12-week cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) course. Together with doctors, they gradually developed resistance to anxiety-triggering irritants. This method of CBT is called exposure therapy and is currently considered the gold standard treatment of anxiety disorders in children.
Using functional MRI, scientists evaluated children’s brain activity before and after CBT. Before treatment, many areas of the brain showed greater activity than in healthy children. Hyperactive areas of the cerebral cortex include the frontal and parietal cortex, which play an important role in the control of attention and emotions. There was also increased activity in the amygdala and other regions deeper than the cerebral cortex, which are necessary for generating strong emotions such as anxiety and fear.
After three months of treatment, the children showed a significant improvement in their anxiety symptoms. The increased activation in the frontal and parietal regions of the brain fell to levels found in healthy children or even lower. However, the amygdala continued to show higher activity in anxious children. This suggests that changes in activity in these regions may require longer-term CBT or direct intervention in subcortical brain structures.
“We know CBT is effective. “The new findings help us understand how CBT works, which is an important first step in improving clinical outcomes,” the scientists noted.
Previous scientists in the name Features of mental development of children in large families.