CBT changes brain wiring, says new study
A newly-published study by King’s College London and South London & Maudsley NHS Trust, and reported in Mental Health Today, has demonstrated that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can strengthen the connectivity between the amygdala (the part of the brain associated with response to actual or imagined threat) and the frontal lobes (associated with thinking and reasoning processes), leading to long-term improvements in psychological health and wellbeing.
Researchers worked with outpatients suffering from psychosis, which up to now has largely been treated with medication alone. Of the two groups involved in the study, with both groups taking medication, the changes in brain “wiring” were noted only in the group that received CBT in addition to their medication, and the resultant improvements were maintained over the 8 year period of the study.
CBT is a talking therapy that teaches ways of changing how we think and respond to our experience. There is strong evidence to demonstrate its effectiveness in improving mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Oasis-Talk offers 1:1 CBT by qualified and experienced therapists, as well as a programme of courses based on CBT principles.