Mental Health and Human Resilience

Biography

Biography: Aboelezz Kalboush

Abstract

Introduction: Psychotherapy is evidenced to be as eff ective as pharmacological treatment in treating a wide range of psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and different anxiety disorders. Most of antidepressants have clear and well known mechanisms of action and cause specific brain changes. Regarding psychotherapy; it has been used eff ectively for decades without knowing a clear mechanism of action for it.
Objectives: This presentation will highlight the changes that the psychotherapy causes in the brain which mediates its treating effects; and how the change in minds of the patients (i.e., their thoughts) can cause changes in the function and more interestingly the structure of the brain cells themselves.
Methods: Critical review of various current and most updated literature on the topic.
Results: Psychotherapy can cause molecular changes on the level of the receptors and transporters of different neuro-transmitters. Brain function changes on the level of brain networks and circuits and brain physiological response to certain chemicals. Brain structure changes on the level of both grey matter and white matter.
Conclusions: Although still preliminary, the studies using neuroimaging for measuring change caused by psychotherapy will in the long run lead to a more understanding of how different psychotherapies work. Th is may lead to a development in which specific modes of psychotherapy can be designed to target specific brain circuits.