Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala.

By Britta K. Hölzel, J. Carmody, Karleyton C. Evans, Elizabeth A. Hoge, Jeffery A. Dusek, Lucas Morgan, R. Pitman, Sara W. Lazar. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2010

603 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Stress has significant adverse effects on health and is a risk factor for many illnesses. Neurobiological studies have implicated the amygdala as a brain structure crucial in stress responses. Whereas hyperactive amygdala function is often observed during stress conditions, cross-sectional reports of differences in gray matter structure have been less consistent. We conducted a longitudinal MRI study to investigate the relationship between changes in perceived stress with changes in amygdala gray matter density following a stress-reduction intervention. Stressed but otherwise healthy individuals (N = 26) participated in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention. Perceived stress was rated on the perceived stress scale (PSS) and anatomical MR images were acquired pre- and post-intervention. PSS change was used as the predictive regressor for changes in gray matter density within the bilateral amygdalae. Following the intervention, participants reported significantly reduced perceived stress. Reductions in perceived stress correlated positively with decreases in right basolateral amygdala gray matter density. Whereas prior studies found gray matter modifications resulting from acquisition of abstract information, motor and language skills, this study demonstrates that neuroplastic changes are associated with improvements in a psychological state variable.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/85be97ebff52424aac1eb3f3114b5a83920e1e03

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Citations in the corpus

Mindfulness training and the cultivation of secure, satisfying couple relationships. (2013, positive): “…relevant areas of the brain when compared with nonmeditating controls (Grant, Courtemanche, Duerden, Duncan, & Rainville, 2010; Grant et al., 2013; Hölzel et al., 2008, 2010, 2011a; Kang et al., 2013; Lazar et al., 2005; Leung et al., 2013; Luders, Clark, Narr, & Toga, 2011; Luders, Toga, Lepore,…”
Contemplating Mindfulness at Work (2016, positive): “Mindfulness has also been associated with changes in the brain, referred to as neuroplasticity, including structural transformations of brain tissue (e.g., shrinking the amygdala; Hölzel et al., 2010) and functional transformations in patterns and regions of activation (Brewer et al., 2011).”
Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training. (2010, background): “In an elegant study, a MBSR program promoted decreases in stress ratings which were correlated with reductions in amygdala gray matter density; providing objective evidence for the positive effects of MBSR on stress (Hölzel et al., 2009).”
Brain on stress: How the social environment gets under the skin (2012, background): “In this connection, it is important to reiterate that successful behavioral therapy, which is tailored to individual needs, can produce volumetric changes in both prefrontal cortex in the case of chronic fatigue (119) and amygdala in the case of chronic anxiety (120).”
The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) (2012, result): “Interindividual variations in interoceptive capacity have been found to be associated with right anterior insula cortical thickness, suggesting potential neuroplasticity effects of interoceptive awareness [30,31], an interpretation further supported by recent longitudinal studies of a mindfulness-ba”
The Biological Underpinnings of Peer Victimization: Understanding Why and How the Effects of Bullying Can Last a Lifetime (2013, background): “…positive neuroplastic changes to the amygdala (a brain structure that plays an important role in detecting stressful stimuli and initiating a response to cope) among individuals who participated in a mindfulnessbased stress-reduction intervention (Hölzel et al., 2010; Hölzel et al., 2011).”
The Difficulty of Defining Mindfulness: Current Thought and Critical Issues (2013, background): “2011) or not practicing other forms of mental trainings (Holzel et al. 2010; Lynch et al. 2011).”
Contemplative Education: A Systematic, Evidence-Based Review of the effect of Meditation Interventions in Schools (2015, background): “The amygdala plays a central role in emotional processing and is specifically involved in responding to discursive emotions such as stress and fear (Hölzel et al. 2009).”
Brain On Stress: Vulnerability and Plasticity of the Prefrontal Cortex Over the Life Course (2013, background): “Similarly, for other brain regions, MBSR has been shown to decrease amygdala volume in subjects who show reduced chronic anxiety (Hölzel et al., 2010), and intense learning produces sustained increases in hippocampal volume (Draganski et al., 2006).”
Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness (2012, background): “Across a number of different MBI studies (Lazar et al., 2005; Holzel et al., 2008; Luders et al., 2009; Grant et al., 2010a; Holzel et al., 2010), differences in GM volume and density (in comparison to nonmeditating controls) have been found using MRI in OFC and lateral PFC.”
Stress- and Allostasis-Induced Brain Plasticity (2011, positive): “A recent longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the relationship between changes in the perceived stress scale and changes in amygdala gray matter density following a stress-reduction intervention (70).”
Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps (2011, result): “…to the participants in the program (Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Kabat-Zinn, 1990), we might cite other studies of brain changes seen with MBSR training (Hölzel et al. 2010; Hölzel et al. 2011), or of improved quality of life, depression, and fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) after MBSR…”
Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density (2010, background): “We previously reported that changes in perceived stress were correlatedwith structural changes in the amygdala in a study that included subjects in the present study, and changes in stress were not correlated with changes in the hippocampus (Hölzel et al., 2009).”