Functional MRI (fMRI), visualizing changes in cerebral blood oxygenation, has to date not been performed either in patients with writer's cramp or in healthy subjects during writing. We compared the cerebral and cerebellar activation pattern of 12 patients with writer's cramp during writing with a group of 10 healthy subjects performing the same tasks over 30-s periods of rest or writing. Sixty echo planar imaging multislice datasets were analysed using SPM96 software. Data were analysed for each subject individually and groupwise for patients vs. controls. Healthy subjects showed a significant activation of the ipsilateral dentate nucleus, contralateral cerebellar hemisphere, contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex, and contralateral precentral gyrus during writing. Patients with writer's cramp showed significantly greater activation of the ipsilateral cerebellar hemisphere than controls. Also the activation in the primary sensorimotor cortex extended further caudally and anteriorly towards the premotor association area. Activation was observed in the thalamus during writing only among the patients. Our results indicate an increased basal ganglia output via the thalamus to the motor and premotor cortical areas in dystonia patients and support the notion of disinhibition of the motor cortex leading to cocontractions and dystonic postures.

Cerebral activation patterns in patients with writer's cramp: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Body, brain and mind are all manifestations of one single organism; all mental processes are based on biological-neuronal processes and events. Advances in neurobiology have increasingly enabled the decoding of the correlates of psychological functions: genetic conditions, brain processes from sensation to cognition and from emotion to empathy, and social interaction. In the latter area, which is decisive for psychosocial research, neurobiological investigations are in their very early stages. Complex psychological functions are represented in networks; this renders it impossible to adopt simple reductionist approaches. Clinical phenomena such as pain or depression are also represented in neuronal networks. An abundance of neurobiological data validates (positively or negatively) psychological, psychotherapeutic or psychiatric theories or therapies. Such validation is indispensable. To date, there are no known fundamentally new approaches to psychiatric and psychotherapeutic practice which are derived from neurobiological data. Psychological phenomena emerge from neurobiological processes. Therefore, psychosocial approaches will be necessary in the future to understand such data in the context of methodological dualism (neurobiological versus psychosocial research methods).

Neurobiology and psychotherapy

Mental disorders are characterised by psychopathological symptoms which correspond to functional brain states. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used for the non-invasive study of cerebral activation patterns in man. First of all, the neurobiological principles and presuppositions of the method are outlined. Results from the Heidelberg imaging lab on several simple sensorimotor tasks as well as higher cognitive functions, such as working and semantic memory, are then presented. Thereafter, results from preliminary fMRI studies of psychopathological symptoms are discussed, with emphasis on hallucinations, psychomotoric phenomena, emotions, as well as obsessions and compulsions. Functional MRI is limited by the physics underlying the method, as well as by practical constraints regarding its use in conjunction with mentally ill patients. Within this framework, the problems of signal-to-noise ratio, data analysis strategies, motion correction, and neurovascular coupling are considered. Because of the rapid development of the field of fMRI, maps of higher cognitive functions and their respective pathology seem to be coming within easy reach.

Functional magnetic resonance tomography in psychopathological research

Funktionelle magnetresonanztomographie in der psychopathologischen forschung

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Functional magnetic resonance tomography in psychopathological research

Funktionelle magnetresonanztomographie in der psychopathologischen forschung