Neural mechanisms of acceptance-commitment therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder : a resting-state and task-based fMRI study

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence for the use of acceptance-commitment therapy (ACT) for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, few fully implemented ACT have been conducted on the neural mechanisms underlying its effect on OCD. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the neural correlates of ACT in patients with OCD using task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

METHODS: Patients with OCD were randomly assigned to the ACT (n = 21) or the wait-list control group (n = 21). An 8-week group-format ACT program was provided to the ACT group. All participants underwent an fMRI scan and psychological measurements before and after 8 weeks.

RESULTS: Patients with OCD showed significantly increased activation in the bilateral insula and superior temporal gyri (STG), induced by the thought-action fusion task after ACT intervention. Further psycho-physiological interaction analyses with these regions as seeds revealed that the left insular-left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) connectivity was strengthened in the ACT group after treatment. Increased resting-state functional connectivity was also found in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, and lingual gyrus after ACT intervention Most of these regions showed significant correlations with ACT process measures while only the right insula was correlated with the obsessive-compulsive symptom measure.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the therapeutic effect of ACT on OCD may involve the salience and interoception processes (i.e. insula), multisensory integration (i.e. STG), language (i.e. IFG), and self-referential processes (i.e. PCC and precuneus). These areas or their interactions could be important for understanding how ACT works psychologically.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:54

Enthalten in:

Psychological medicine - 54(2024), 2 vom: 07. Jan., Seite 374-384

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Lee, Sang Won [VerfasserIn]
Kim, Seungho [VerfasserIn]
Lee, Sangyeol [VerfasserIn]
Seo, Ho Seok [VerfasserIn]
Cha, Hyunsil [VerfasserIn]
Chang, Yongmin [VerfasserIn]
Lee, Seung Jae [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Acceptance-commitment therapy
Cognitive defusion
Functional connectivity
Journal Article
Mindfulness
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Randomized Controlled Trial
Thought-action fusion

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 06.02.2024

Date Revised 06.02.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1017/S0033291723001769

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM359286038