NL
DE
Florian Krause, department of Cognitive Neuroscience, received an AAF grant (100.000 Euro) for the project “Getting Trauma Under Control: Learning to Self-Regulate PTSD Brain Networks Through Prospective Neurofeedback Training”.
Together with Erno Hermans (Radboudumc), Gert-Jan Hendriks (Radboud University), Bart Rutten (MaastrichtUMC+), David Linden (Maastricht University) and Koen Schruers (Maastricht University), this collaborative project aims to evaluate a new treatment modality for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is based on the self-regulation of brain networks through Neurofeedback.
PTSD is commonly treated with trauma-focused therapy, but this approach is insufficiently effective: many patients exhibit relapse of pathological fear when outside of the therapy context. New evidence from cognitive psychology/neuroscience, however, shifts the focus away from the trauma memory itself, and rather assumes that maladaptive control is the core deficit in PTSD. Neuroimaging research has detailed an imbalance in large-scale brain networks that underlies the failure to suppress intrusive thoughts of experienced trauma.
By using Neurofeedback based on these networks to train patients to optimally control intrusive thoughts, this novel approach could, in addition to current treatment, equip patients with the means to deal with future challenges that extend beyond the therapy, and generalize to real-life contexts, allowing them to stay healthy.
This project is one of the 21 research projects the AAF has funded recently.
Related news items
Playing games to control emotions How cognitively demanding tasks can affect emotion regulation
19 April 2022 Cognitive reappraisal can help us to control our emotions. It involves recognizing negative thought patterns, and gradually changing them to more effective patterns. A new study shows how the cognitive load of reappraisal, rather than the reappraisal itself, affects our emotional processing. read more
The effects of dopamine levels on reward responsivity
25 November 2021 To adapt to the ever-changing context in which we live, we are constantly deciding how much effort to put into performing our behavior, or how fast to perform our actions. How do people decide how fast to act and how does the brain compute this? Our researchers set out to investigate this. read more
Adverse effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in bipolar disorder
18 November 2021 Mindfulness is often described as “being aware of our present moment experience, in a friendly and non-judgmental way”. As research into mindfulness, and psychotherapy in general, has mainly been focused on positive outcomes, not much is known about the possibility of adverse effects. read more
