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Perspective ARTICLE

This article is part of a Research Topic

Neuroimaging in psychiatry: from bench to bedside

David E. J. Linden^1,2* and Andreas J. Fallgatter³

Bangor Imaging Unit, Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

School of Medical Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

Department of Psychiatry, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany

This perspective considers the present and the future role of different neuroimaging techniques in the field of psychiatry. After identifying shortcomings of the mainly symptom-focussed diagnostic processes and treatment decisions in modern psychiatry, we suggest topics where neuroimaging methods have the potential to help. These include better understanding of the pathophysiology, improved diagnoses, assistance in therapeutic decisions and the supervision of treatment success by direct assessment of improvement in disease-related brain functions. These different questions are illustrated by examples from neuroimaging studies, with a focus on severe mental and neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. Despite all reservations addressed in the article, we are optimistic that neuroimaging has a huge potential with regard to the above-mentioned questions. We expect that neuroimaging will play an increasing role in the future refinement of the diagnostic process and aid in the development of new therapies in the field of psychiatry.

Keywords:

schizophrenia, depression, bipolar, fMRI, neurofeedback

Citation:

Linden DEJ and Fallgatter AJ (2009). Neuroimaging in psychiatry: from bench to bedside. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 3:49. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.049.2009

Received:

23 July 2009;

Paper pending published:

03 October 2009;

Accepted:

02 November 2009;

Published online:

23 December 2009.

Edited by:

Stefano F. Cappa, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy

Reviewed by:

Paul C. Fletcher, University of Cambridge, UK
Stefano F. Cappa, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy

© 2009 Linden and Fallgatter. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

David E. J. Linden, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK. e-mail: d.linden@bangor.ac.uk