{"id":3819,"date":"2017-01-23T22:35:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T04:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/?p=3819"},"modified":"2017-01-24T08:10:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T14:10:16","slug":"new-study-shows-talk-therapy-can-change-brain-function-schizophrenics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2017\/01\/new-study-shows-talk-therapy-can-change-brain-function-schizophrenics\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Shows Talk Therapy Can Change Brain Function of Schizophrenics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Shutterstock\"<\/a>
Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Talk therapy can be best understood as physical therapy for the brain.\u00a0 Many previous studies have been shown to have a positive impact on the brain functioning of depressed and anxious patients, changing the way clients\u2019 brains process, feel, and respond to stress.\u00a0 Exciting new research shows that even patients who suffer from psychosis (e.g., intrusive auditory and visual hallucinations) and schizophrenia can experience significant improvements in brain function as the result of talk therapy. \u00a0 But how?<\/p>\n

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a school of psychology that focuses on \u201creframing,\u201d or changing the way an individual thinks about and responds to their thoughts and experiences as well as developing strategies to reduce stress and improve mental health and well-being.<\/p>\n

A study conducted by King\u2019s College London shows that CBT strengthens the \u201cconnections between key regions of the brain involved in processing social threat accurately.\u201d Furthermore, this study revealed that the techniques of CBT show increased \u201cconnectivity between several brain regions \u2014 most importantly the amygdala (the brain\u2019s threat centre) and the frontal lobes (which are involved in thinking and reasoning) \u2014 are associated with long-term recovery from psychosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, individuals who experience psychotic symptoms such as those common in schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorder, can benefit from CBT by \u201clearning to think differently about unusual experiences, such as distressing beliefs that others are out to get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, follow the same researchers\u2019 previous work which showed that people with psychosis who received CBT displayed strengthened connections between key regions of the brain involved in processing social threat accurately.<\/a>\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The researchers of this and other studies explained that individual\u2019s struggling with psychosis often turn immediately to medication for relief from their symptoms. However, the results of this study demonstrate that while CBT is effective during the time the individual is receiving counseling, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy also gives the individual the tools necessary to positively impact long-term recovery.<\/p>\n

To discover how Cognitive-Behavior Therapy can help your brain deal with stress, depression, anxiety and other emotional problems more effectively, contact the Pastoral Solutions Institute\u2019s Tele-Counseling<\/a> practice to make an appointment to speak with a counselor.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talk therapy can be best understood as physical therapy for the brain.\u00a0 Many previous studies have been shown to have a positive impact on the brain functioning of depressed and anxious patients, changing the way clients\u2019 brains process, feel, and respond to stress.\u00a0 Exciting new research shows that even patients who suffer from psychosis (e.g., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1437,"featured_media":3330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,93],"tags":[315,1180,1179,15,1178],"class_list":["post-3819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-counseling-2","category-mental-illness","tag-brain","tag-cbt","tag-cognitive-behavioral-therapy","tag-psychology","tag-schizophrenia"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Study Shows Talk Therapy Can Change Brain Function of Schizophrenics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talk 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