Reduced anxiety and changes in amygdala network properties in adolescents with training for awareness, resilience, and action (TARA)

Olga Tymofiyeva; Eva Henje; Justin P. Yuan; Chiung-Yu Huang; Colm G. Connolly; Tiffany C. Ho; Sarina Bhandari; Kendall C. Parks; Benjamin S. Sipes; Tony T. Yang; Duan Xu

NeuroImage: Clinical (Jan 2021)

Reduced anxiety and changes in amygdala network properties in adolescents with training for awareness, resilience, and action (TARA)

Olga Tymofiyeva,
Eva Henje,
Justin P. Yuan,
Chiung-Yu Huang,
Colm G. Connolly,
Tiffany C. Ho,
Sarina Bhandari,
Kendall C. Parks,
Benjamin S. Sipes,
Tony T. Yang,
Duan Xu

Affiliations

Olga Tymofiyeva: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Corresponding author at: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th St., Byers Hall Suite 102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Eva Henje: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Clinical Science/Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Justin P. Yuan: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Bldg 420, Jordan Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA
Chiung-Yu Huang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Colm G. Connolly: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Florida State University College of Medicine, 1115 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Tiffany C. Ho: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Sarina Bhandari: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Kendall C. Parks: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Benjamin S. Sipes: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Tony T. Yang: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Duan Xu: Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, BH102, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 29
p. 102521

Abstract

Read online

Mindfulness-based approaches show promise to improve emotional health in youth and may help treat and prevent adolescent depression and anxiety. However, there is a fundamental gap in understanding the neural reorganization that takes place as a result of such interventions. The Training for Awareness, Resilience, and Action (TARA) program, initially developed for depressed adolescents, uses a framework drawn from neuroscience, mindfulness, yoga, and modern psychotherapeutic techniques to promote emotional health. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of the TARA training on emotional health and structural white matter brain networks in healthy youth. We analyzed data from 23 adolescents who underwent the 12-week TARA training in a controlled within-subject study design and whose brain networks were assessed using diffusion MRI connectomics. Compared to the control time period, adolescents showed a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms with TARA (Cohen’s d = -0.961, p = 0.006); moreover, the node strength of the Right Amygdala decreased significantly after TARA (Cohen’s d = -1.026, p = 0.004). Post-hoc analyses indicated that anxiety at baseline before TARA was positively correlated with Right Amygdala node strength (r = 0.672, p = 0.001). While change in Right Amygdala node strength with TARA was not correlated with change in anxiety (r = 0.146, p = 0.51), it was associated with change in depression subscale of Anhedonia / Negative Affect (r = 0.575, p = 0.004, exploratory analysis), possibly due to overlapping constructs captured in our anxiety and depression scales. Our results suggest that increased structural connectivity of Right Amygdala may underlie increased anxiety in adolescents and be lowered through anxiety-reducing training such as TARA. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of the neural mechanisms of TARA and may facilitate neuroscience-based prevention and treatment of adolescent anxiety and depression.

Published in NeuroImage: Clinical

ISSN: 2213-1582 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Medicine: Medicine (General): Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics; Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry: Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neuroimage-clinical/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords