SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING EFFECTIVENESS IN THE TREATMENT OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS, INCLUDING DEPRESSION

摘要

The present invention pertains to the evaluation and/or treatment of psychopathological diseases. In one aspect, information regarding brain activity, coupled with behavior tests (e.g., determining performance in a computer-based task), may be used to predict the response of a subject to psychological treatment, e.g., with a psychoactive drug. For example, the subject may be one suffering from depression, or other disturbances of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Another aspect of the present invention is directed to methods for analyzing neurobiological predictors through integration of information gathered from one or more levels of analyses: (1) behavior, (2) brain function, and/or (3) genes. In one aspect, the methods of the present invention can comprise any one of these components (i.e., behavior, brain function, and genes), or a combination of two or more of these components, and/or other components. Through these methods, development of novel algorithms for improving the ability to identify biological surrogate markers of treatment response are disclosed, according to certain embodiments of the invention. Still other aspects of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for implementing such evaluation techniques, analyzing such evaluation techniques, promotion of such evaluation techniques, and the like.