I know this a bit behind schedule, but without further ado:
Despite being one of the most common psychological
disorders, social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most complex to treat
because cases are so varied and unique. Usually, a combination of medication
and cognitive therapy is the standard approach, but until recently there had
been no way of predicting how well these methods will work on a patient.
MIT researchers, using MRI technology, looked at the brains
of non-medicated SAD patients as they were exposed to pictures of angry or
neutral faces. What they found was that, looking at a patient’s brain, medical
professionals could more accurately determine the factors present in each case
of SAD. When a case is better understood, it can be better treated. The study
resulted in more than a 40% variance in results compared to patients used as
control subjects.
The results indicate that it is possible to determine
biomarkers that substantially indicate how successful psychological treatment
can be for a particular socially anxious patient. Additionally, if these
biomarkers exist for SAD, then perhaps similar screening could be used in the
treatment of similar psychological disorders.
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