An intriguing new NIAAA-funded study offers a glimpse at how the adolescent brain responds to the language of therapists. Led by Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Adolescent Behavioral Health Clinic at Oregon Health & Science University, the study assessed 17 young people ages 15\u201319 who were self-reported binge drinkers. Following a psychosocial assessment, the youths received two sessions of motivational interviewing aimed at reducing drinking. Between sessions, the participants underwent a brain scan using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.<\/p>\n
During the fMRI, the therapist presented two types of statements: one set of \u201cclosed questions\u201d based on standard language used within addiction treatment (e.g., \u201cDo your parents know you were drinking?\u201d); the other set included more effortful \u201ccomplex reflections\u201d (e.g., \u201cYou\u2019re worried about your drinking.\u201d)<\/p>\n
The youth were re-evaluated one month after treatment. At the follow-up evaluation, the youth showed significant reductions in number of drinking days and binge drinking days. Furthermore, in the fMRI sessions, the researchers observed greater brain activation for complex reflections versus closed questions within the bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus, a brain region associated with decisionmaking, emotions, reward anticipation, and impulse control.<\/p>\n
The scientists also noted that greater blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response in the parietal lobe during closed questions was significantly associated with less post-treatment drinking. BOLD response is a way to measure activity in specific brain areas. Previous research has shown that this region\u2019s secondary function is related to a person\u2019s ability to navigate, plan, and make decisions.<\/p>\n
The study team also observed lower brain activation in the precuneus was associated with study participants\u2019 post-treatment ratings of the importance of changing their drinking. The precuneus, a subregion of the parietal lobe located inside the fissure that separates the brain\u2019s hemispheres, is related to self-reflection and introspection and is involved in risk behavior. It is considered to be a hub of the brain\u2019s key resting-state network.<\/p>\n
The researchers also noted what they did not find from the brain scans\u2014any link between treatment outcome and activation of the frontal lobes, which are a region tied to complex reasoning. The authors commented that this lack of activation might be<\/p>\n
because the frontal lobes of the adolescent brain are still developing, making it difficult for teens to bring their frontal lobes \u201conline.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study authors note that their findings have important implications for the treatment of addiction in adolescents and can improve our understanding of youth brain systems and inform how to influence mechanisms of behavior change in this population.<\/p>\n
Reference:<\/p>\n
Feldstein Ewing, S.W.; Houck, J.M.; Yezhuvath, U.; Shokri-Kojori, E.; Truitt, D.; and Filbey, F.M. The impact of therapists\u2019 words on the adolescent brain: In the context of addiction treatment. Behavioural Brain Research 297:359\u2013369, 2016. PMID: 26455873<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.spectrum.niaaa.nih.gov\/news-from-the-field\/news-from-the-field-01.html\u00a0 Volume 8 Issue 3\u00a0 September 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An intriguing new NIAAA-funded study offers a glimpse at how the adolescent brain responds to the language of therapists. Led by Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Adolescent Behavioral Health Clinic at Oregon Health & Science University, the study assessed 17 young people ages 15\u201319 who were self-reported binge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,41,36,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brain-and-behaviour","category-drug-use-effects-on-foetus","category-treatment-addiction","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}