Psychotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychotherapy, including details on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, methods, outcomes.

Use of FMRI to predict recovery from unipolar depression with cognitive behavior therapy.

Siegle GJ, Carter CS, Thase ME

Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2593, USA. gsiegle@pitt.edu

OBJECTIVE: In controlled treatment trials, 40%-60% of unmedicated depressed individuals respond to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The authors examined whether pretreatment neural reactivity to emotional stimuli accounted for this variation. METHOD: Unmedicated depressed individuals (N=14) and never depressed comparison subjects (N=21) underwent fMRI during performance of a task sensitive to sustained emotional information processing. Afterward, depressed participants completed 16 sessions of CBT. RESULTS: Participants whose sustained reactivity to emotional stimuli was low in the subgenual cingulate cortex (Brodmann's area 25) and high in the amygdala displayed the strongest improvement with CBT. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of emotion regulation disruptions, which are targeted in CBT, may be the key to recovery with this intervention.

Published 4 April 2006 in Am J Psychiatry, 163(4): 735-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Psychotherapy Research Today. All Rights Reserved.