Treating Depression and Anxiety with Psychotherapy versus Drugs

Until now, it's been hard for medical professionals to predict how patients with depression or anxiety will react to psychotherapy. But in a study published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, a research team examined how specific "neuroimaging markers" can indicate treatment responses. According to UPI, the authors say this information can help people with major depressive disorder or other related ailments decide whether psychotherapy or medications are a more appropriate treatment. The team reviewed 40 prior studies on patients with various types of psychiatric illnesses and other neurological diseases. While they were unable to find a single area of the brain associated with psychotherapy, they did identify several "candidate markers." For example, patients with higher amygdala activity were found to be more responsive to psychotherapy.