Psychological counseling can be considered a kind of "brain fitness".
The more you exercise, the more powerful and resilient your brain becomes.
Our problems can also be solved better and faster.
Falling in love can change your brain.
A study from Southwestern University showed that when people fall in love, levels of certain neurochemicals associated with pleasure and rewards rise in the brain, such as dopamine and oxytocin.
Neuroimaging scans of participants in long-term relationships showed a marked increase in the volume of the cortex in areas of their brains associated with information processing and emotions, and even a decrease in the sensitivity to pain (Song et al., 2015).
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In fact, the things that can change the brain are not just about falling in love, but also about psychological counseling.
01
Psychological counseling changes brain function activity
Different areas in the brain are associated with different cognitive and emotional functions. For example, the amygdala located on the anterior side of the frontal lobe controls fear; the hippocampus, located between the thalamus and the medial temporal lobe, manages emotions and memories; and the medial prefrontal lobe guides us to complex thinking and problem solving. By receiving psychological counseling, these areas change to varying degrees.
For example, the detection of brain activity in depressed patients through fMRI neuroimaging technology found that psychological counseling can effectively reduce the activity of brain areas associated with depressive symptoms, such as the amygdala, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal lobe. The symptoms of depressed patients are relieved and the mood gradually recovers.
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Psychological counseling changes the morphological structure of the brain
Our brains are as flexible as our bodies. Just as the body can increase muscle mass through fitness, if we regularly perform a certain mental activity, the volume of the relevant control areas in the brain will change.
For example, depression makes people "big heads" – the amygdala controls our fears, and long-term anxiety and fear increase the volume of the amygdala. Vice versa, people with larger amygdalas are also more likely to suffer from depression (Leuchter et al., 1997).
In this case, through psychological interventions for symptoms, the morphological structure of our brains can be reshaped. Experiments have shown that people with social phobia have reduced their symptoms after receiving online psychological counseling, and the volume of amygdala has decreased to varying degrees.
Similarly, antidepressants can help patients improve mood and even attention by balancing neurotransmitters (Greenlaw, 2010). Medication and psychological counseling affect the brain differently, but the combination of the two can better meet the needs of some patients.
Psychological counseling can be considered a kind of "brain fitness". The more we exercise, the more powerful and resilient our brains become, and our problems are better and faster to solve.
We are always exploring how to provide efficient and accurate service to everyone who comes to seek psychological help.
It is for this motivation that we launched the Psychological Assessment Service.
If you are hesitating, do not know whether your situation requires psychological counseling, do not know how to choose a counselor, then this service may be a good choice.
The data shows that after the "psychological assessment" into the psychological counseling, the consultation matching degree has been effectively increased by 5 times, and 89% of users believe that through the assessment, they have obtained more economical, efficient and accurate psychological support services.