amygdala Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/amygdala/ Your hub for fresh-picked health and wellness info Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:41:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AHA_Gradient_Bowl-150x150.jpg amygdala Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/amygdala/ 32 32 New Finding Offers Promise in Researching Depression Together With Obesity https://amazinghealthadvances.net/new-finding-offers-promise-in-researching-depression-together-with-obesity-7584/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-finding-offers-promise-in-researching-depression-together-with-obesity-7584 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/new-finding-offers-promise-in-researching-depression-together-with-obesity-7584/#respond Wed, 29 Sep 2021 07:00:20 +0000 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=12916 University of Illinois Chicago via Newswise – Is problem-solving therapy effective in treating individuals who have both depression and obesity? Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have identified an important step toward discovering how and why therapies and treatments work.  Research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that problem-solving therapy led to short-term changes in the amygdala — the gateway to emotion regulation in the brain.  Dr. Jun Ma, Beth and George Vitoux Professor of Medicine at the UIC department of medicine, is a senior author of the study: “Problem-solving therapy–induced amygdala engagement mediates lifestyle behavior change in obesity with comorbid depression: a randomized proof-of-mechanism trial.”  “The goal of the study is to explore whether an intervention for comorbid obesity and depression has an effect on brain function as a causal mechanism that leads to behavior change and symptom improvement,” Ma said.  In previous research, depression has been characterized by heightened amygdala activity along with a loss of amygdala regulation. Changes in amygdala activity correlate with responses to cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression and antidepressants. The new study is the first to investigate these neural targets in response to depression treatment for weight loss and behavior change among patients with both obesity and depression using a randomized clinical trial.  For the current study, adults with both obesity and depression received problem-solving therapy for depression for the first two months in a yearlong, integrated behavioral treatment for both conditions. They underwent functional MRI brain imaging at the beginning of the study, then after two months. Their body mass index (BMI), physical activity and diet were measured at the study’s beginning, as well as after 12 months. Neural target changes were measured and compared with the control group, which received no problem-solving therapy.  The research found amygdala changes associated with physical activity levels as well as energy expenditure.The neural target changes at two months predicted the improved behavioral outcomes after 12 months, which is important to demonstrate potential causal mechanisms, Ma said.  “The goal is to study the causal mechanisms and understand how and why behavioral treatments such as problem-solving therapy work so that we can more precisely target the mechanism in order to improve treatment efficacy for patients,” Ma said. “These findings give us a promising direction for future research to hopefully confirm this causal pathway.”  To read the original article click here.

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]]> https://amazinghealthadvances.net/new-finding-offers-promise-in-researching-depression-together-with-obesity-7584/feed/ 0 Study: How Experiencing Traumatic Stress Leads to Aggression https://amazinghealthadvances.net/study-how-experiencing-traumatic-stress-leads-to-aggression-6557/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-how-experiencing-traumatic-stress-leads-to-aggression-6557 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/study-how-experiencing-traumatic-stress-leads-to-aggression-6557/#respond Wed, 20 May 2020 07:00:27 +0000 http://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=8780 Society for Neuroscience via EurekAlert – Traumatic stress can cause aggression by strengthening two brain pathways involved in emotion, according to research recently published in JNeurosci. Targeting those pathways via deep brain stimulation may stymie aggression associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The consequences of traumatic stress linger long after the stress ends. People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder often display heightened aggression, caused by unknown changes in the amygdala. An almond-shaped structure nestled deep inside the brain, the amygdala plays an essential role in emotion, social behaviors, and aggression. Nordman et al. examined how different amygdala circuits changed in male mice after traumatic stress. Two connections strengthened, resulting in more attacks on other mice: the circuitry connecting the amygdala to the ventromedial hypothalamus and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The former modulates the frequency of attacks, while the latter controls the length of attacks. The research team then used low frequencies of light to stop the pathways from strengthening, preventing an increase in aggressive behavior. Deep brain stimulation may elicit the same effect in humans. To read the original article click here.

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