Psychotherapy is a collaborative treatment applies psychological interventions through creation of a relationship between a patient and a psychologist in treatment of mental health problems, psychiatric disorders and emotional challenges. The method enables patients to comprehend their feelings, anxiety, what makes them feel positive or depressed ( Holttum, 2014) . Multiple studies have unraveled that psychotherapy is as efficacious as psychopharmacology in influencing an individual’s mental state changes, anxiety symptoms and behaviors. Psychotherapy has a biological basis as the intervention repairs the brain biologically from harm caused by adverse life events .
A study by Fournier and Price (2014) revealed that psychotherapy achieves changes in behavior and mental state through gene expression and learning. The study indicated that psychotherapy alters synaptic connections strength between nerve cells. The research asserted that psychotherapy induces morphological alterations in neurons through changes in gene expression leading to behavior influence. Psychotherapy alters the functioning of brain regions associated with emotion regulation, negative emotion, reward and fear. A research by Fournier and Price (2014) reported that psychotherapies for depression trigger metabolism or activity reduction in several parts of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) including VLPFC, DLPFC and medial prefrontal regions such as the OFC, ventral mPFC, dorsal and subgenual ACC. A well replicated literature review finding posited that psychotherapy achieves brain changes by reducing emotional biases towards PFC negative stimuli leading to increases in positive stimuli. Recent findings indicate that psychotherapy stimulates changes in limbic activity such as reduction in amygdala and insula functioning. Application of psychotherapy to treat posttraumatic stress and social anxiety disorders triggers increased activity in hippocampus which influences a person’s behavior. Psychotherapy influences behavior changes by remediating the brain neural abnormalities and reinforcing the top-down and cortical emotion regulatory processes. Psychotherapy skills such as cognitive re-appraisal and problem solving act on PFC structures. Psychotherapy effects improve Prefrontal Cortex regulation and modulate regions that respond to threatening or negative stimuli leading to behavior changes.
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Psychotherapy and psychopharmacology share some common neuronal pathways albeit not all. For example, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology use glutamatergic brain neuron pathways by targeting the N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors to modulate brain function (Fournier & Price, 2014). The two methods also share the hippocampus-prefrontal cortex (PFC) neuronal pathway through altering synaptic plasticity which increases the PFC signal-to-noise ratio. Longitudinal studies indicate that sharing of the neuronal pathways results to an interplay of serotonergic and noradrenergic activity modulation.
Neuroscience studies indicate that psychotherapy has a biological basis. Psychotherapy is a comprehensive and individualized biological intervention that taps into all biological regulations of brain complex functionalities. Psychotherapy has a biological basis as it addresses brain development, operations and how the brain matures (Stein et al., 2019). The treatment method follows the tenets of evolutionary adaptation and is congruous with genetics. The brain operations are purely biological. Psychotherapy treats the brain problematic adaptations in ways that they evolved during formative stages. The intervention fosters new neuronal pathways and deactivates maladaptive brain mappings, an action which is biological. Psychotherapy process biologically repairs the harm inflicted due to the play of consciousness. Scholarly evidence indicates that psychotherapy positively impacts brain recovery resulting from stress response (Stein et al., 2019). The intervention mediates connection of maladaptive brain neural networks caused by adverse life events. Psychotherapy deals with an organism’s content, causal mechanisms and structure which relates to the arena of biology. Psychotherapy produces brain changes akin to those produced after medication administration. Some psychotherapy treatment modalities such as CBT affects the rate of glucose metabolism as seen on brain imaging. The effects make psychotherapy similar to other biological treatments as it works on the brain in a measurable and objective ways.
Culture, religion and social economic background alters how a patients perceives physiotherapy treatments and its efficacy. Some client’s culture prohibit discussion of one’s emotions leading to resistance in psychotherapy treatment plan. Some religions restrict discussions of negative emotions only with a clergy or religious figure who comes from the same religion. In some backgrounds, poverty as a socioeconomic factor is associated with depression and anxiety. Patients from such backgrounds contend with barriers in seeking and receiving mental assistance.
References
Fournier, J. C., & Price, R. B. (2014). Psychotherapy and neuroimaging. Focus , 12 (3), 290-298.
Holttum, S. (2014). When bad things happen our brains change but psychotherapy and support can help the recovery of our brains and our lives. Mental Health and Social Inclusion .
Stein, D. J., Bass, J. K., Hofmann, S. G., & van Ommeren, M. (2019). Rethinking psychotherapy. Global Mental Health and Psychotherapy: Adapting Psychotherapy for Low-and Middle-Income Countries , 1.
