Abstract

PERES, Julio Fernando Prieto  and  NASELLO, Antonia Gladys. Psychoterapy and neurosciences: a fruitul and necessary intersection. Rev. bras.ter. cogn. [online]. 2005, vol.1, n.2, pp. 21-30. ISSN 1808-5687.

Multidisciplinarity is an intrinsic and fundamental factor of Neuroscience, which unites investigations from the bimolecular to the cognitive spectrum. Investigation methods such as neuroimaging and monitoring of autonomic responses have provided confluence between Psychotherapy and Neuroscience. Studies have started to evaluate the neural reciprocities involved in psychotherapy of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Results have revealed that Cognitive Therapies were potentially able to modify dysfunctional neural circuits associated with the disorders being studied. Findings have shown that psychological learning processes can cause biological changes in brain synapses and neurophysiological expression. Convergence of research lines is conducive to construction of more assertive knowledge than in the past, when independent findings remained unconnected. The neurobiological effects of psychotherapy are now considered extremely relevant to Neuroscience. Technology advances will progressively bring a more precise identification of the neural circuits associated with the disorders being studied. However, interface with Psychology is crucial so that current and future findings guide psychotherapeutic interventions in relationship to what should be stimulated in these individual to normalize deficient neural activities

Keywords : Neuroscience; Neuroimaging; Psychotherapy; Cognitives therapies.