Understanding Mental Health and Cognitive Restructuring With Ecological Neuroscience

Figure 1. Data collection in the clinical neuroscience of mental health interventions. After an initial evaluation period (1), paradigms investigating the periodic effects of treatment (3) on the brain typically collect data from clinical populations before treatment commences (2), between particular stages of treatment (4), such as at 6 weeks, and at short- and long-term stages subsequent to treatment (5), such as after 14 weeks. Note that no neuroscientific data are collected during the interpersonal interactions driving the treatment sessions, leaving an explanatory gap regarding the nature of the information-processing systems in the brains of both clinicians and clients that contribute to the observed effects of interventions (e.g., cognitive change, emotion regulation, functional connectivity, etc.).

Figure 2. Example paradigm of a semi-clinical environment. Pairs of individuals are seated across a table with a full field of vision of each other in a normal room. A computer screen is positioned to the side of each participant's face to not obstruct natural facial information during verbal communication. Clinical interactions are then fractionated during fNIRS acquisition: A “client” utters a dysfunctional proposition while the “clinician” listens to this, then critically thinks about what makes the belief irrational, and finally verbally disputes the appraisal while the client carefully listens. These epochs would constitute one trial in a block; other blocks mnight involve reversing roles or changing the nature of the intervention strategy.