Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026
MRI-guided dmPFC-rTMS as a Treatment for Treatment-resistant Major Depressive Disorder
Published on: August 11, 2015
Use of FMRI to predict recovery from unipolar depression with cognitive behavior therapy
Greg J Siegle1, Cameron S Carter, Michael E Thase
1Western 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.
