Group cognitive behavioral therapy modulates the resting-state functional connectivity of amygdala-related network in patients with generalized social anxiety disorder.
Amygdala is considered as the core pathogenesis of generalized social anxiety disorder (GSAD). However, it is still unclear whether effective group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) could modulate the function of amygdala-related network. We aimed to examine the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala before and after group CBT.



Fifteen patients with GSAD were scanned on a 3T MR system before and after 8 weeks of group CBT. For comparison, nineteen healthy control participants also underwent baseline fMRI scanning. We used bilateral amygdala as seed regions and the rsFC maps of the right and left amygdala were created separately in a voxel-wise way. Clusters survived two-tailed Gaussian Random Field (GRF) correction at p <0.05 (voxel z value >2.3).



Compared with baseline, patients with CBT showed significantly decreased connectivity of the left amygdala with the right putamen, the left dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Especially, the changes of the connectivity between the left amygdala and the dACC positively correlated with changes of the anxiety symptom in patients. Furthermore, in relative to controls, patients showed higher connectivity of left amygdala with dmPFC and dACC at baseline, while normal after CBT.



Short-term group CBT could down-regulate the abnormal higher connectivity of prefrontal-amygdala network, along with clinical improvement. This may provide a potential biomarker to monitor the treatment effect of CBT in GSAD patients.
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Minlan
M
Yuan
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.|State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Hongru
H
Zhu
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Changjian
C
Qiu
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.|State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Yajing
Y
Meng
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Yan
Y
Zhang
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Jing
J
Shang
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Xiaojing
X
Nie
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Zhengjia
Z
Ren
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Qiyong
Q
Gong
Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China. weizhang27@163.com.|State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. weizhang27@163.com.
Wei
W
Zhang
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, China. lusuwcums@hotmail.com.|Radiology Department, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. lusuwcums@hotmail.com.
Su
S
Lui
D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Brain network; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Generalized social anxiety disorder; Group cognitive–behavioral therapy; Resting-state