CBT – NIH Director's Blog (original) (raw)

Personalizing Depression Treatment with Brain Scans

Posted on July 2nd, 2013 by Dr. Francis Collins

Brain scan showing three red dots, the largest of which is in the cross hairs of two green lines

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].

Posted In: Health, Science

Tags: anterior insula, antidepressant medication, biomarker, brain, BRAIN Initiative, brain scan, CBT, cognitive behavior therapy, depression, personalized medicine, PET, positron emission tomography