Increased prefrontal cortex activity on near-infrared spectroscopy after interpersonal counseling in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Yuki Sawamura, Hitomi Hirokawa-Ueda, Takuro Kawakami and 5 others
PMID 34539071WHAT IT FOUND
Brain activity in the prefrontal cortex increased significantly after three sessions of interpersonal counseling in five adults with ADHD tendencies.
This small pilot suggests a potential physiological change, but it did not measure actual symptom improvement or behavior.
Key findings
01Prefrontal cortex activity, measured by near-infrared spectroscopy during a suppression task, was significantly higher after interpersonal counseling than at baseline.
02The study did not evaluate whether ADHD symptoms or motivation for physical therapy actually improved.
03The increase in brain activity cannot be definitively attributed to the counseling because there was no control group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample size was extremely small (5 participants), limiting the reliability of the findings. There was no control group, so improvements cannot be distinguished from natural variation or placebo effects. The study measured brain activity as a proxy but did not evaluate actual clinical outcomes like symptom reduction or functional improvement. Participants were all university students, so results may not apply to children or adults with more severe ADHD. Technical issues with the near-infrared spectroscopy equipment led to the exclusion of some data points.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret increased prefrontal cortex activity as evidence that interpersonal counseling improves ADHD symptoms or motivation for therapy. The study did not measure clinical outcomes, and the lack of a control group means the brain changes could be unrelated to the counseling.