An initial fMRI study on neural correlates of prayer in members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse
; 43(1): 44-54, 2017 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27015258
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Many individuals with alcohol-use disorders who had experienced alcohol craving before joining Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) report little or no craving after becoming long-term members. Their use of AA prayers may contribute to this. Neural mechanisms underlying this process have not been delineated.OBJECTIVE:
To define experiential and neural correlates of diminished alcohol craving following AA prayers among members with long-term abstinence.METHODS:
Twenty AA members with long-term abstinence participated. Self-report measures and functional magnetic resonance imaging of differential neural response to alcohol-craving-inducing images were obtained in three conditions after reading of AA prayers, after reading irrelevant news, and with passive viewing. Random-effects robust regressions were computed for the main effect (prayer > passive + news) and for estimating the correlations between the main effect and the self-report measures.RESULTS:
Compared to the other two conditions, the prayer condition was characterized by less self-reported craving; increased activation in left-anterior middle frontal gyrus, left superior parietal lobule, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral posterior middle temporal gyrus. Craving following prayer was inversely correlated with activation in brain areas associated with self-referential processing and the default mode network, and with characteristics reflecting AA program involvement.CONCLUSION:
AA members' prayer was associated with a relative reduction in self-reported craving and with concomitant engagement of neural mechanisms that reflect control of attention and emotion. These findings suggest neural processes underlying the apparent effectiveness of AA prayer.Palavras-chave
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Religião
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Encéfalo
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Alcoólicos Anônimos
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Alcoolismo
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Fissura
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article