Efectos neurológicos de las terapias cognitivo-conductual en pacientes depresivos. Revisión de la Literatura.

Neurological effects of cognitive-behavioral therapies in depressive patients. Literature Review.

Abstract

Cognitive behavioral therapy has been positioned as the first-line treatment for the treatment of depression, since its efficacy has been widely demonstrated, which is why it is highly scientifically sound. However, the neurological mechanisms behind the reduction of depressive symptoms in cognitive behavioral therapy interventions are not as well known. For this reason, the objective of this bibliographic review is to compile neuroimaging trials that make it possible to identify the neurological effects that cognitive behavioral therapy achieves in patients with depressive disorders. For this purpose, an inspection was carried out in the PubMed digital database, including randomized controlled trials published in the last 5 years in English and Spanish, and excluding single case studies and graduate thesis. In total 19 investigations were included for this review, only one of which found no effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on three neurotrophic factors. In general, the results found show relationships between specific areas of the brain, especially in different structures of the limbic system, with the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, which could indicate that the establishment of neurological biomarkers and predictors may be an important guide for psychotherapists and a fundamental tool at the clinical level. Common limitations were evidenced for most of the included trials, such as small population sizes and the absence of control and placebo groups in certain cases, as well as differences in the applied therapy protocols, which complicates the interpretation of the results.