Cited by 176Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Neural correlates of psychotherapy in anxiety and depression: a meta-analysis

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Messina, Irene, Sambin, Marco, Palmieri, Arianna, Viviani, Roberto·2013·PLoS ONE

Abstract

Several studies have used neuroimaging methods to identify neural change in brain networks associated to emotion regulation after psychotherapy of depression and anxiety. In the present work we adopted a meta-analytic technique specific to neuroimaging data to evaluate the consistence of empirical findings and assess models of therapy that have been proposed in the literature. Meta-analyses were conducted with the Activation Likelihood Estimation technique, which evaluates the overlap between foci of activation across studies. The analysis included 16 studies found in Pubmed (200 foci of activation and 193 patients). Separate meta-analyses were conducted on studies of 1) depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and panic disorder investigated with rest state metabolism (6 studies, 70 patients); 2) depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and panic disorder investigated with task-related activation studies (5 studies, 65 patients); 3) the previous studies considered jointly; and 4) phobias investigated with studies on exposure-related activation (5 studies, 57 patients). Studies on anxiety and depression gave partially consistent results for changes in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and in the posterior cingulated gyrus/precuneus. Several areas of change in the temporal lobes were also observed. Studies on the therapy of phobia were consistent with a reduction of activity in medial temporal areas. The cluster of change in the prefrontal cortex may refer to increased recruitment of control processes, as hypothesized by influential models of emotion regulation changes due to psychotherapy. However, not all areas associated with controlled emotion regulation were detected in the meta-analysis, while involvement of midline structures suggested changes in self-related information processing. Changes in phobia were consistent with reduced reactivity to phobic stimuli.

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  1. [91]Beck AT (1976). Cognitive Theory and the Emotional Disorders. New York: International University Press.

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Authors
Messina, I., Sambin, M., Palmieri, A., & Viviani, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Padua (IT)
  • Universität Innsbruck (AT)
Corresponding author
Messina, Irene
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2013-09-11
Volume
8
Issue
9
Pages
e74657
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2147566726
Cited by
176
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 2
FWCI
1.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
psychotherapy, neural correlates, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, phobia, exposure therapy, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, medial temporal lobe, self-referential processing
MeSH terms
Anxiety, Brain, Brain Mapping, Depression, Emotions, Humans, Implosive Therapy, Phobic Disorders, Psychotherapy, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Likelihood Functions, Panic Disorder, Neuroimaging

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