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Neuroplasticitet som en Funktion av Mindfulness bland Barn och Ungdomar med Depression och Ångest

von Kantzow, Nils LU (2022) PSYK11 20212
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Concerns regarding the mental health of children and adolescents are rising, as recent research has shown an increase in depression and anxiety in these populations. At the same time mindfulness has been proposed as a possible remedy for mood disorders, and has shown promising results regarding behavioral and neural outcomes. While previous research has shown how abnormal white matter plasticity might constitute the neural underpinning of these disorders, mindfulness has been shown to benefit the structural white matter connectivity of meditators. In light of this, we conducted a novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) study on the effects of mindfulness on 13 white matter tracts, in children and... (More)
Concerns regarding the mental health of children and adolescents are rising, as recent research has shown an increase in depression and anxiety in these populations. At the same time mindfulness has been proposed as a possible remedy for mood disorders, and has shown promising results regarding behavioral and neural outcomes. While previous research has shown how abnormal white matter plasticity might constitute the neural underpinning of these disorders, mindfulness has been shown to benefit the structural white matter connectivity of meditators. In light of this, we conducted a novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) study on the effects of mindfulness on 13 white matter tracts, in children and adolescents with depression and/or anxiety. We hypothesized that mindfulness would promote the white matter integrity, operationalized as an increase in fractional anisotropy (FA), of these tracts in an experimental mindfulness group (N = 14) as compared to a control group (N = 14). We found no such significant difference between the groups. Despite not finding support for our hypothesis, the current study might still add to the literature on plasticity and mindfulness because of its novel focus on children and adolescents. We thus discuss possible explanations and implications of our nonsignificant findings in the last section. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Tidigare forskning har visat en ökning av depression och ångest bland barn och ungdomar, vilket har lett till ett ökat intresse för barn och ungas mentala hälsa. Samtidigt har mindfulness tagits upp som en potentiell resurs för att motverka dessa åkommor, då det har visat lovande resultat både på beteende- och neural nivå. Medan tidigare forskning har visat avvikande plasticitet i hjärnans vita substans bland de som lider av depression och/eller ångest, har mindfulness visat sig gagna den strukturella konnektiviteten i den vita hjärnsubstansen. Med hänsyn till detta utförde vi en undersökning med tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) och diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) för att studera 13 nervbanor hos barn och ungdomar med depression... (More)
Tidigare forskning har visat en ökning av depression och ångest bland barn och ungdomar, vilket har lett till ett ökat intresse för barn och ungas mentala hälsa. Samtidigt har mindfulness tagits upp som en potentiell resurs för att motverka dessa åkommor, då det har visat lovande resultat både på beteende- och neural nivå. Medan tidigare forskning har visat avvikande plasticitet i hjärnans vita substans bland de som lider av depression och/eller ångest, har mindfulness visat sig gagna den strukturella konnektiviteten i den vita hjärnsubstansen. Med hänsyn till detta utförde vi en undersökning med tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) och diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) för att studera 13 nervbanor hos barn och ungdomar med depression och/eller ångest.
Vår hypotes var således att mindfulness skulle bidra till en ökning i integritet i dessa nervbanor, operationaliserad som fraktionerad anisotropi (FA), i en experimentell mindfulnessgrupp (N = 14) i jämförelse med en kontrollgrupp (N = 14). Vi fann ingen sådan signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna. Trots att vi inte funnit några bevis för vår hypotes kan den föreliggande studien fortfarande bidra till litteraturen om plasticitet och mindfulness då den är ny i sitt fokus på barn och ungdomar. Således avslutar vi denna rapport med en diskussion kring våra icke-signifikanta resultat och vad dessa kan ha berott på och vad de kan komma att betyda för framtida forskning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
von Kantzow, Nils LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Neuroplasticity as a Function of Mindfulness in Children and Adolescents with Depression and Anxiety
course
PSYK11 20212
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Neuroplasticity, mindfulness, depression, anxiety, DTI, TBSS, white matter, Neuroplasticitet, ångest, vit hjärnsubstans
language
English
id
9077128
date added to LUP
2022-03-17 14:35:39
date last changed
2022-03-17 14:35:39
@misc{9077128,
  abstract     = {{Concerns regarding the mental health of children and adolescents are rising, as recent research has shown an increase in depression and anxiety in these populations. At the same time mindfulness has been proposed as a possible remedy for mood disorders, and has shown promising results regarding behavioral and neural outcomes. While previous research has shown how abnormal white matter plasticity might constitute the neural underpinning of these disorders, mindfulness has been shown to benefit the structural white matter connectivity of meditators. In light of this, we conducted a novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) study on the effects of mindfulness on 13 white matter tracts, in children and adolescents with depression and/or anxiety. We hypothesized that mindfulness would promote the white matter integrity, operationalized as an increase in fractional anisotropy (FA), of these tracts in an experimental mindfulness group (N = 14) as compared to a control group (N = 14). We found no such significant difference between the groups. Despite not finding support for our hypothesis, the current study might still add to the literature on plasticity and mindfulness because of its novel focus on children and adolescents. We thus discuss possible explanations and implications of our nonsignificant findings in the last section.}},
  author       = {{von Kantzow, Nils}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Neuroplasticitet som en Funktion av Mindfulness bland Barn och Ungdomar med Depression och Ångest}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}