Decrease in amygdala activity during repeated exposure to spider images predicts avoidance behavior in spider fearful individuals
(2020) In Translational Psychiatry 10(1).- Abstract
Spider phobia is characterized by exaggerated fear of situations where spiders could be present, resulting in avoidance of such situations and compromised quality of life. An important component in psychological treatment of spider phobia is exposure to phobic situations that reduces avoidance behaviors. At the neural level, amygdala responses to phobic material are elevated, but normalizes following exposure treatment. To what extent amygdala activity decreases during a session of repeated phobic stimulation, and whether activity decrease is related to subsequent avoidance is not well studied. We hypothesized reduced amygdala activity during the course of repeated exposure to spider pictures, and that the degree of reduction would... (More)
Spider phobia is characterized by exaggerated fear of situations where spiders could be present, resulting in avoidance of such situations and compromised quality of life. An important component in psychological treatment of spider phobia is exposure to phobic situations that reduces avoidance behaviors. At the neural level, amygdala responses to phobic material are elevated, but normalizes following exposure treatment. To what extent amygdala activity decreases during a session of repeated phobic stimulation, and whether activity decrease is related to subsequent avoidance is not well studied. We hypothesized reduced amygdala activity during the course of repeated exposure to spider pictures, and that the degree of reduction would predict subsequent avoidance of spider pictures. To test our hypothesis, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 45 individuals with spider fear during repeated exposure to spider pictures. Results showed that repeated exposure to spider stimuli attenuated amygdala reactivity and individual differences in activity reductions predicted subsequent avoidance behavior to spider pictures in an incentive-conflict task, with larger attenuations predicting less avoidance. At 6-month follow up, initial reductions in amygdala activation still predicted avoidance. This result demonstrates that reduction in amygdala responses is related to clinically meaningful outcomes in human anxiety, and suggests that within-session reductions in amygdala responses could be an important mechanism explaining the clinical effects of exposure therapy.
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- author
- Björkstrand, Johannes LU ; Agren, Thomas ; Frick, Andreas ; Hjorth, Olof ; Furmark, Tomas ; Fredrikson, Mats and Åhs, Fredrik
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Translational Psychiatry
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 292
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85089705875
- pmid:32820152
- ISSN
- 2158-3188
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41398-020-00887-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a975e34c-712d-4bd3-8b5d-b2ac3a477a42
- date added to LUP
- 2021-01-15 11:51:53
- date last changed
- 2024-05-02 01:59:50
@article{a975e34c-712d-4bd3-8b5d-b2ac3a477a42,
abstract = {{<p>Spider phobia is characterized by exaggerated fear of situations where spiders could be present, resulting in avoidance of such situations and compromised quality of life. An important component in psychological treatment of spider phobia is exposure to phobic situations that reduces avoidance behaviors. At the neural level, amygdala responses to phobic material are elevated, but normalizes following exposure treatment. To what extent amygdala activity decreases during a session of repeated phobic stimulation, and whether activity decrease is related to subsequent avoidance is not well studied. We hypothesized reduced amygdala activity during the course of repeated exposure to spider pictures, and that the degree of reduction would predict subsequent avoidance of spider pictures. To test our hypothesis, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 45 individuals with spider fear during repeated exposure to spider pictures. Results showed that repeated exposure to spider stimuli attenuated amygdala reactivity and individual differences in activity reductions predicted subsequent avoidance behavior to spider pictures in an incentive-conflict task, with larger attenuations predicting less avoidance. At 6-month follow up, initial reductions in amygdala activation still predicted avoidance. This result demonstrates that reduction in amygdala responses is related to clinically meaningful outcomes in human anxiety, and suggests that within-session reductions in amygdala responses could be an important mechanism explaining the clinical effects of exposure therapy.</p>}},
author = {{Björkstrand, Johannes and Agren, Thomas and Frick, Andreas and Hjorth, Olof and Furmark, Tomas and Fredrikson, Mats and Åhs, Fredrik}},
issn = {{2158-3188}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Translational Psychiatry}},
title = {{Decrease in amygdala activity during repeated exposure to spider images predicts avoidance behavior in spider fearful individuals}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-00887-2}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41398-020-00887-2}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2020}},
}