Mindfulness-based therapy regulates brain connectivity in major depression
May 29, 2019 Michael Lifshitz, Matthew D. Sacchet, Julia M. Huntenburg et al. 1 citation
Major depressive disorder involves abnormal communication between large-scale brain networks. A randomized, active-controlled trial tested whether mindfulness-based therapy could alter resting-state functional connectivity in clinically depressed patients. A brief, clinically effective mindfulness intervention functionally decoupled top-down control regions from brain areas involved in sensory, affective, and attentional processing. These findings identify specific neural targets of mindfulness training, offering new insight into how this therapeutic approach works.