For depression, there is no single medication or therapy that has been found to work as a primary treatment for most patients. We found that people with depression who have increased activity in one area of the brain and decreased activity in another in response to emotional stimuli are more likely to respond to a specific treatment--cognitive therapy. If this finding holds true, we may be able to predict what therapies will be most effective for individual patients by using imaging technology, bypassing the lengthy trial and error process that is often necessary to find the right treatment.
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