Targeting the Amygdala: Emotion-Focused Therapy for Bipolar Disorder.

Emotion-focused therapy (FEST) may be effective in the long-term treatment and relapse prevention of bipolar disorder (BD). A new study identifies a therapeutic tool focused on emotional awareness that increased activation and connectivity of an emotion-regulating center in the brain. The study investigated the impact of two psychotherapeutic interventions on BD symptoms and on amygdala activation and connectivity with other emotion-related brain regions using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The amygdala helps regulate emotion and detect salient stimuli. In contrast, the patients of the cognitive-behavioral intervention demonstrated increased activation of brain regions related to social function but not altered amygdala activity.