cognitive behavior therapy
Personalizing Depression Treatment with Brain Scans
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Caption: Depressed patients with higher activity in the anterior insula (where the green lines intersect) did better with medication than cognitive behavior therapy.
Source: Helen Mayberg, Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Today, figuring out who will benefit from which antidepressant medication is hit or miss—physicians prescribe a medication to treat major depression for two to three months, and then gauge the results. This trial and error is frustrating and expensive; typically only about 40% get well after this first treatment or see an improvement in symptoms. The other 60% must try a different drug or some other approach. In a new NIH funded study, researchers showed how brain scans could predict which individuals would benefit from a medication and which might respond better to psychotherapy [1].
