Our Neurons and Ourselves

We are on the frontiers of an exciting time in neuroscience. Dr. Eric Kandel, the recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, explains that the area of the brain responsible for depression has been documented (in some cases) and the type of therapy to which the patient responds can be predicted (The New York Times, September 8). He cites a recent study in which Emory University’s Professor Helen Mayberg has demonstrated that people with below-average baseline activity in the right anterior insula responded well to cognitive behavioral therapy. These contrasted to those with above-average activity who responded to medication. In other words, observing the baseline activity in this area of the brain, the right anterior insula, can predict a depressed person’s response to specific treatments.

The case of Mr. M. exemplifies how this kind of predication could be helpful. He consulted me for long-standing depression, unresolved after ten years of psychoanalysis with Dr. L.  Mr. M. functioned like a car, running on three of a possible six cylinders; he declared he’d received no benefit from treatment. Within a few months on antidepressant medication, he felt like a car in which all six cylinders fired on time. He was able to access the knowledge he had gained and change his life.

Some people suffer for years unwilling to consider a pharmacological approach. Another segment of the population thinks pharmacotherapy is the only solution. The new research opens up a vast territory of possibility that would help to determine who will respond to which approach.

Dr. Kandel concludes the following:

1.              Neural circuits disturbed by psychiatric disorders are very complex.

2.              In certain cases, markers of a mental disorder can be identified and can predict the outcome of psychotherapy and medication.

3.              Psychotherapy as well as pharmacotherapy is a biological treatment that produces physical changes in the brain.

4.              The effects of psychotherapy can be studied scientifically.

Conclusion: Some amazing recent discoveries of the brain and mind include the budding potential to predict who will respond to a variety of biological treatments that include psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.

Dear Reader, I welcome your thoughts on the advent of this exciting frontier of neuroscience. Jsimon145@gmail.com.