Cognitive Therapy Success Can be Predicted by Pupil Dilation

Only about half the patients who suffer from depression are benefited from cognitive therapy. Recent work suggests that reasonable predictions can be made about which patients will respond to cognitive therapy if they are given a brain scan. Unfortunately, brain scans are too expensive, time-intensive, and fraught with technical challenges to use on a routine basis. Now, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pennsylvania reported a potential alternative - pupil dilation to study the effects of cognitive therapy. Their findings are published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry.

"We have shown that a quick, inexpensive, and easy to administer physiological measure, pupil dilation in response to emotional words, not only reflects activity in brain regions involved in depression and treatment response but can predict which patients are likely to respond to cognitive therapy," explained Dr. Greg Siegle, corresponding author on the study.

Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.

"According to proverb, the eye is the mirror of the soul or, in this case, the brain. The essential finding of this study is that that activity in the brain's cortical emotion regulatory systems is strongly related to pupil size when people are viewing emotion-laden words," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "It is because of this relationship between eye and brain that pupil measurements predict the response to cognitive therapy."Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy designed to help individuals overcome difficulties by modifying negative or irrational thoughts and behavior, which, in turn, can improve mood and reduce stress. It is usually completed in weekly sessions, with 10-20 sessions being effective for most individuals who benefit.

This was a relatively small study, so the work still requires replication. But, the authors have high hopes that this technology could eventually be used regularly to improve treatment response rates in mental health clinics.

Source-Eurekalert

Quiz on Depression
The World Health Organization reports that depression is one of the main causes of disability affecting about 121 million people worldwide. More tragically, it claims around 850,000 lives every year. Hence, it is important that we understand this affliction to help ourselves or our loved ones to cope and, hopefully, resolve it. How well do you know the facts about depression? Take this quiz and find out.

Depression Screening Test
Online Depression Screening Test tells if you have mild or chronic depression based on your depression symptoms. Learn how to deal with depression by using this self-assessment calculator.

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A study has revealed that moderate to severely depressed clients showed greater improvement in cognitive therapy.

Cognitive Therapy Success can be Predicted by Pupil Dilation