Brain scans could help measure effectiveness of behavioral therapy
Findings suggest combat victims could be directed to more effective treatments.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientists have found that brain scans of patients with social anxiety disorder can help predict if they will benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, a new study reveals.
The findings, published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, may help doctors choose the most effective treatments for troubled veterans. Cognitive behavioral therapy addresses post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety, which may also be treated with medication. It is difficult to predict what treatment works best for a particular patient.
Researchers from MIT, Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital found that the effectiveness of therapy could be predicted by measuring brain activity as they eyeballed photos of faces, before the therapy sessions began.
“Our vision is that some of these measures might direct individuals to treatments that are more likely to work for them,” John Gabrieli, an MIT cognitive sciences professor who helped author the paper, said in a statement.