supports or challenges
Assignment:
Respond to at least two of your colleagues by providing an additional scholarly resource that supports or challenges their position along with a brief explanation of the resource.
Each response must have at least 2 references no more than five years old
Colleagues Response # 1
Psychotherapy and biological basis
I believe that psychotherapy has a biological basis and there continues to be emerging evidence supporting this. Psychotherapy has ability to touch many aspects of the clients lives to include self-esteem. Family, work, and relationships (Laureate Education, 2016). Psychotherapy can work alone or in conjunction with psychopharmacology and it is often the first line of treatment (Laureate Eductaion, 2016).
There have been studies on brain changes after psychotherapy for depression, anxiety disorders, and borderline personality disorder that have been published (Karlsson, 2011). Studies have focused on comparing behavior therapy against psychopharmacologic agents such as antidepressants and the changes in the brain with both modalities. “In the recent study by Karlsson and colleagues, clear differences emerged between short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and fluoxetine among patients with MDD” (Karlsson, 2011).
Many psychotherapies attempt to enhance patients’ problem-solving capacities, self-representation, and regulation of affective states. The brain areas that play a role in these functions include the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, ventral and dorsal subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, insular cortex, amygdala, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. For example, the mechanism behind the effectiveness of cognitive therapy for patients with MDD could be through an increase in prefrontal function, which is involved in cognitive control, while antidepressant medications operate more directly on the amygdala, which is involved in the generation of negative emotion (Karlsson, 2011).
