Neuroimaging may offer a new way for diagnosing Mental illness. Pioneering Study Demonstrates Benefit of Imaging Technique in Identifying Mental Illness MRI may be an effective way to diagnose mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, according to experts from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
What is neuroimaging and how does it help treat addiction?
Neuroimaging has helped to elucidate that substance-use disorders are associated with changes in brain structure, function, and neurochemistry. Neuroimaging studies have improved our understanding of the neural correlates of addiction and how these relate to addictive behavior.
Can neuroimaging biomarkers improve psychiatric diagnosis and treatment?
Despite abundant research into the neurobiology of mental disorders, to date neurobiological insights have had very little impact on psychiatric diagnosis or treatment. In this review, we contend that the search for neuroimaging biomarkers—neuromarkers—of mental disorders is a highly promising avenue toward improved psychiatric healthcare.
What can we learn from neuroimaging studies of mental health interventions?
These neuroimaging studies of mental health interventions provide important insights into how the brain changes to improve cognition, psychosocial functioning, and recovery.
Can neuroimaging help children with neurodevelopmental disorders?
In the study of the human brain, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the past 20 years, technological advances have provided and refined a variety of neuroimaging methods based on different physical phenomena. There is now considerable literature on the application of neuroimaging to children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
How did the scientific method which began to be applied in the mid 1500 influence the development of psychology?
The scientific method encouraged an objective study of psychological phenomena, adequate measurements, experiments, and statistical analysis.
What occurs during our activities and mental processes?
According to the biological perspective, nerve impulses are sent to the brain during our activities and mental processes.
What were some early views and beliefs about human behavior?
Some early views about human behavior were to know your own self and to look within. Who were some of the pioneers or founders of Psychology? Some pioneers/founders of psychology were Wilhelm Wundt (founded structuralism), William James (founded Functionalism, Sigmund Freud (founded psychoanalysis), and John B.
Can we observe mental processes as well as brain structure?
A review of the neuroimaging literature suggests that selective association between mental processes and brain structures is currently impossible to find.
Why is cognitive neuroscience important?
Cognitive neuroscience deepens the understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. Cognitive neuroscience contributes to the solution of problems found in contemporary philosophy of science.
Why is the perspective one uses in explaining a psychological disorder important?
Why is the perspective one uses in explaining a psychological disorder important? The perspective one uses in explaining a psychological disorder consists of assumptions that will guide how to best study and understand the nature of a disorder, including its causes, and how to most effectively treat the disorder.
How did the object of study in psychology change over the history of the field since the 19th century?
How did the object of study in psychology change over the history of the field since the 19th century? In its early days, psychology could be defined as the scientific study of mind or mental processes. Over time, psychology began to shift more towards the scientific study of behavior.
Why is behavioral perspective important?
This perspective seeks to better explain the physiological needs of any living organism, as well as the way motivation can impact behavior. It considers different types of motivation and how different levels of motivation can impact the amount or type of work or effort that an individual will be willing to put forth.
Why is neuroimaging important?
Neuroimaging is critical in detecting structural and functional brain abnormalities underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. It is also critical in distinguishing between and among conscious, vegetative, and minimally conscious states. It can complement clinical observation in confirming a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis and lead to therapeutic interventions in the brain. Neuroimaging may also yield incidental findings about the brain that may or may not warrant clinical referral and follow-up. In all of these respects, CT, DTI, MRI, PET, fMRI, and other imaging techniques may prevent harm to and benefit a significant number of people who have or will develop disorders of the brain and mind. However, information about the brain is fraught with uncertainty and open to different interpretations regarding its medical and behavioral significance. How this information is interpreted and presented to people with brain abnormalities may harm them as much as it may benefit them. Guidelines, policies, and laws need to be formulated, implemented, and enforced to protect people undergoing brain scans in experimental and clinical settings. Neuroimaging is and will likely remain an inexact science. Accordingly, researchers, clinicians, and the public at large should be cautious in drawing conclusions from data gathered from these techniques.
What is the role of neuroimaging in PD?
Neuroimaging has played a central role in studying the outcome and success of graft transplantation in PD. Although it allows the survival and functionality of grafted tissues to be defined, neuroimaging data do not always reflect the clinical outcome experienced by the patients. PET imaging can be used to select patients who would most benefit from this surgical procedure, as well as to monitor the survival and functionality of the grafted tissue. Moreover, by use of PET imaging, it has been possible to unravel the pathophysiology underlying the presence of motor complications successive to grafting and to suggest possible therapeutic measures. More studies, with more accurate selection of participants, design and definition of outcomes, are warranted to improve our knowledge about the outcome of graft transplantation in PD patients.
What is the best imaging of the nervous system?
X-rays were and still are valuable for detecting fractures and other bony abnormalities, but they do not show the soft tissues of the nervous system itself. X-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide excellent images of soft tissues. CT and MRI are the most widely used techniques for diagnostic structural neuroimaging. Positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission tomography (SPECT), functional MRI, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy all provide physiological neuroimaging data.
What is neuroimaging in medical terms?
Neuroimaging is the discipline that deals with the in vivo depiction of anatomy and function of the central nervous system (CNS) in health and disease. The term ‘neuroimaging’ is more comprehensive than the older term of neuroradiology; although in the past, neuroimaging was considered the domain of radiologists with a specific interest in ...
Why does MRI decay?
This decay occurs for two reasons: intrinsic and extrinsic. The intrinsic factor is that the random configuration of the spins itself creates small inhomogeneities in the local magnetic field.
What is neuroimaging?
Neuroimaging refers to the use of radiological and other techniques to create images of the living human nervous system. X-rays were and still are valuable for detecting fractures and other bony abnormalities, but they do not show the soft tissues of the nervous system itself.
What is spin in fMRI?
According to quantum theory, electrons, protons, and neutrons possess a fundamental property referred to as “spin.”. We will consider a small group of protons, H+.
What is brain imaging?
A brain imaging method could be defined as any experimental technique that allows human (or animal) brain structure or function to be studied, preferably in vivo in the current context.
Is structural magnetic resonance imaging invasive?
The method should be minimally invasive and repeat able (to facilitate use in treatment monitoring and development of therapeutic strategies). Current structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has good spatial resolution, is noninvasive, and meets the above criteria well for structural analysis.
What is the difference between CT and neuroimaging?
Structural anatomical neuroimaging shows the anatomical matter of the brain. Computed tomography (CT) scans create images by consolidating several two-dimensional images into a single three-dimensional image. Comparatively, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic technology that creates an image based on the displacement of atoms.
What is the first line of defense for treating psychiatric disorders?
Medication is often the first line of defense in treating individuals who are diagnosed with psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders, such as depression and Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) [8]. However, many psychiatrists, such as Daniel Cartal, have expressed concern in this overemphasis of medication and have questioned the accuracy of their success rates [6]. Throughout the years, the amount of psychotropic drugs prescribed has continued to increase. Between the years 2001 to 2010, there was a 22% increase in the prescription of psychotropic drugs. In a 2011 study, Pratt et al., found that antidepressant use had increased 400% in a decade [5]. In 2012, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed prescription drug [7]. However, few research articles have addressed more recent statistics of this increase in prescription drugs.
What is the meaning of "MDD"?
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a distressing and impairing disorder. It is characterized by feelings of hopelessness, pessimism about future events, difficulty concentrating, loss of pleasure and motivation, and much more. Research has thus sought to identify brain changes associated with MDD in order to identify possible neurochemical and pathological causes that in turn, might help develop treatments.
Can neuroimaging be used to diagnose psychiatric disorders?
While these studies show promising evidence that neuroimaging can detect neural differences in psychiatric groups, they may not be enough to conclude that neuroimaging can be used to diagnose psychiatric disorders.
Is neuroimaging used in clinical practice?
Some popular psychiatrists, such as Dr. Daniel Amen, have suggested that neuroimaging tools should be used in clinical practice for diagnosis and treatment [20]. Nevertheless, neuroimaging has made important contributions to the understanding of psychiatric disorders and the brain in general. These contributions may indirectly aid in the future development of more sophisticated prescription drugs that will in turn, help treat such disorders. Perhaps, with time, neuroimaging technology will become advanced enough to diagnose and treat these disorders. But until analysis methods, generalizability, and other methodological limitations are solved, traditional methods remain the best option. However, as research continues on the use of neuroimaging research, there is promise to improve our understanding of psychiatric disorders in the future.
What is neuroimaging used for?
The use of neuroimaging to identify biomarkers of treatment outcomes is challenged by limitations of neuroimaging.
Why is neuroimaging important in addiction treatment?
Neuroimaging is important to biomarkers research as it relates neural circuits to both molecular mechanisms and behavior.
What is functional neuroimaging?
In general, functional neuroimaging signals are derived from changes in oxygenated hemoglobin related to local changes in cerebral blood flow and brain metabolism. As such, they provide an indirect measure of neuronal activity and may be used to track the neural correlates of mental activity [7].
Why are biomarkers important in substance abuse research?
In substance-abuse research, biomarkers are needed to clarify how or why a treatment has an effect, on whom and under what circumstances. Recent advances in neuroimaging are affording greater opportunities to identify brain biomarkers that might be used to improve outcomes of treatment for substance-use disorders.
What is a biomarker in addiction?
A “biomarker” typically refers to a measurable indicator of normal or abnormal biological processes or response to treatment [2].
What is cognitive control?
Cognitive Control. Most forms of substance abuse and addiction are associated with impairments in cognitive control—broadly defined as goal-directed guidance of information processing and behavior [40]—including deficits in response inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and attention, among others [27].
Is modafinil a cognitive enhancer?
For example, in alcohol-dependent individuals, poorer response inhibition prior to treatment with modafinil, a cognitive enhancer, was associated with better outcomes [e. g., 38] , indicating that modafinil may only be a useful treatment for alcohol in individuals with greater impulsivity.
What is neuroimaging research?
Psychiatric neuroimaging research typically involves a group of patients, and a group of healthy control participants ( normally matched to the patient group in terms of various demographic characteristics). These are compared in terms of their brain structure or function.
How do neuroimaging studies use group differences?
Most neuroimaging studies use group differences to infer characteristics of neuropathology. While the knowledge of how brain structure and function differs between patient populations and control subjects is valuable in terms of understanding disease mechanisms, making inferences about cognitive or affective processes based on observations of brain structure or function (i.e., reverse inference) is problematic ( 31 ). However, a key reason for the inability of neuroscientific insights to translate into clinical practice is the reliance on the results of inferential statistics (see Glossary) to determine the relevance of results, which does not necessarily translate into clinical relevance. In an applied setting only those variables that can generate some information about the outcome of interest for an individual patient—whether this is the projected disease course or simply whether or not a patient fits into a specific diagnostic category—are useful. Statistical significance between groups is quantified based on group means and within-group variance [see ( 32) for a discussion]. Differences will therefore be strongest between groups with high within-group homogeneity. Good predictors, on the other hand, capitalize on heterogeneity within the entire sample to generate an outcome estimate. While variables that significantly differ between groups may also be good predictors, this is not necessarily the case, and vice versa ( 20, 23, 32, 33 ).
How is MRI data analyzed?
MRI and fMRI data are usually analyzed by carrying out statistical significance tests on each voxel. This type of analysis is referred to as mass-univariate analysis, as it involves conducting a massive amount of tests for each analysis.
What is the connection between brain and behavior?
The earliest knowledge of the connection between brain and behavior comes from post mortem examinations and studies of patients with brain lesions. A famous example is the case of Phineas Gage, whose personality changed dramatically after an iron rod passed through his skull and destroyed much of his frontal lobe.
Why is testing in other laboratories important?
Testing in other laboratories is an important measure of model performance because differences between a variety of cohorts from the same population on occasion have much larger effect sizes than differences between groups within the population [for example, typically developing and ASD individuals, ( 92 )].
What is the developmental pipeline for neuromarkers?
The developmental pipeline for neuromarkers in psychiatry should be very similar to the standard drug development pipeline. Woo et al. ( 34) and Moons et al. ( 19, 84) have laid out this developmental pipeline for biomarkers, making specific recommendations and providing a tangible way to evaluate how close to clinical applicability biomarkers are. The number of participants required increases the further along the road to clinical applicability a model is ( 34, 84 ). Initial exploratory studies typically have small sample sizes and modest resources, but the findings from these studies can be used to justify investing a higher amount of resources for further research and development ( 21, 34 ). At this stage it is advantageous to pursue many different avenues in terms of modalities and functional tasks in order to find the approach that best predicts the outcome. Generally, the most efficient approach to biomarker development will take into consideration what we already know at every stage of the development pipeline ( 19 ). In the initial stages of neuomarker research this may take the shape of selecting functional imaging tasks to use based on previous research. When analyzing the data, this may include the use of targeted feature engineering as suggested by Hahn et al. ( 13 ), taking into account the caveats of this approach. Woo et al. ( 34) estimated that around 450 models in the exploratory stage of development had been published in January 2016 relating to mental disorders (excluding substance use).
What is predictive model in mental health?
As previously noted, diagnoses of mental disorders are based on observed and/or self-reported symptoms, which are highly heterogeneous within, and often common across disorders ( 13 ). The absence of clear and distinct disorder phenotypes and a high rate of comorbidity of psychiatric disorders pose a considerable challenge to clinicians when it comes to selecting a treatment pathway from which the patient is most likely to benefit. In other domains of medicine, predictive models for estimation of treatment efficacy, risk assessment, and prognosis are routinely employed by medical professionals, and advocated by policymakers ( 14 ). Over the last decade, for example, cancer and heart disease are two specific areas in which biologically based (predictive) models, or biomarkers, have been used for purposes of screening, diagnosis, staging, prognosis, treatment selection, and monitoring ( 15 – 17 ). Rather than replace the clinician, these biomarkers provide a measure that can supplement clinical decision-making ( 18, 19 ). This affords patients and healthcare providers the opportunity to implement preventative measures in high-risk patients, to identify a disease in its early stages, aid differential diagnosis, select treatment pathways that are most likely to benefit the patient, and to make a well-informed prognosis about treatment outcome and disease course. Being able to estimate the likelihood that a patient will respond to a particular treatment is the basis for precision medicine, and for the integration of diagnosis and therapeutics [“theranostics,” ( 20 )]. Based on predicted treatment response or disease course, clinicians can personalize treatment plans and avoid or delay costly, arduous, and possibly ineffective treatments. This would have a great impact on the quality of life of patients, and on the economic and personal cost of healthcare to the individual and society.
What is the study of the human brain?
psychiatry. psychopathology. In the study of the human brain, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the past 20 years, technological advances have provided and refined a variety of neuroimaging methods based on different physical phenomena.
Why do we need large samples and longitudinal studies?
The high variability of brain sizes and the non-linear pattern of most developmental curves call for large samples and longitudinal study designs in order to adequately characterise neuroanatomic patterns of development in children.
What is the striking feature of brain morphometric data on normal children and adolescents?
A striking feature of brain morphometric data on normal children and adolescents, is the high degree of variability of brain structure size, even in well screened healthy cohorts , leading to the need for larger sample sizes to detect significant differences. Most of the studies to date do not meet the projected numbers necessary to rule out type II errors.
Why are collars important for scanning?
Movement during scanning produces significant artefacts and needs to be monitored and adjusted for. The advent of new collars to prevent movement will help improve the quality of the scans.
Which part of the brain has grey matter?
They report decreases of grey matter in anterior parts of this system (right paracingulate sulcus, left inferior frontal gyrus) and increases in posterior parts (amygdala/peri-amygdaloid cortex, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus) and in the regions of the cerebellum.
Is MR imaging a gold standard?
Analysis of MR images has benefited enormously from advances in computer technology. However, the absence of a “gold standard” hampers the validation of these techniques and comparison with results obtained from manual tracing by expert human raters remains the best standard. Developmentally correct child brain maps are not yet freely available, resulting in the use of adult brain maps—Talaraich space, for analysis. This could result in computerised programs picking up wrongly identified areas during analysis. Statistical threshold adjustments for multiple comparisons, and uncertainty regarding the heterogeneity of the condition under study also affect the reliability of results. Nonetheless, imaging offers distinct advantages over non-imaging methods in assessing function and structure.
Can new techniques cause confusion?
It needs to be recognised that investigations using new techniques in the absence of guiding hypotheses can lead to confusion. Chance associations are bound to occur from exhaustive analysis of small numbers of subjects, receiving a disproportionate emphasis in the literature.
