Mood Disorders
fMRI is especially useful in differentiating mood disorders that share common symptoms and has even been successful in categorizing depression into 4 separate sub-types. Each mood disorder can be seen as a unique signature in the brain, and through these signatures we can begin to understand the deeper mechanisms driving these disorders.
Treatments for Mood Disorders
While various pharmacological medications combined with psychotherapy have traditionally been used with some degree of success, many patients have turned to non-addictive treatment methods such as repetitive TMS (rTMS). Our physicians provide fMRI data specifically tailored for rTMS providers. These providers can then treat the activated areas of the brain visualized in the fMRI.
Sources:
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2. Resting-state connectivity biomarkers define neurophysiological subtypes of depression. Drysdale AT, Grosenick L, Downar J, Dunlop K, Mansouri F, Meng Y, Fetcho RN, Zebley B, Oathes DJ, Etkin A, Schatzberg AF, Sudheimer K, Keller J, Mayberg HS, Gunning FM, Alexopoulos GS, Fox MD, Pascual-Leone A, Voss HU, Casey BJ, Dubin MJ, Liston C; Nat Med. 2017 Jan;23(1):28-38. doi: 10.1038/nm.4246. Epub 2016 Dec 5.
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5. A systematic review of the neural bases of psychotherapy for anxiety and related disorders. Samantha J. Brooks, PhD, Dan J. Stein, PhD; Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015 Sep; 17(3): 261–279.
6. Predicting Treatment Outcome in PTSD: A Longitudinal Functional MRI Study on Trauma-Unrelated Emotional Processing. Sanne J H van Rooij, Mitzy Kennis, Matthijs Vink & Elbert Geuze; Neuropsychopharmacology volume 41, pages 1156–1165 (2016) doi:10.1038/npp.2015.257.
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