Brain Blood Flow Gives Clues to Treating Depression

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Brain Blood Flow

A brief note on SPECT imaging for assessing depression from Israel: Keeping up with brain science.

This interesting press release from the Society of Nuclear Medicine makes it clear that the naysayers who don't get the significance of SPECT imaging in everyday psych practice need to rethink their tunneling position. We can see types of depression if we look. Here is a brief review:

The usefulness of established molecular imaging/nuclear medicine approaches in identifying the “hows” and €”whys” of brain dysfunction and its potential in providing immediately useful information in treating depression are emphasized in a study in the August Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

“€œIndividuals in a depressed emotional state have impaired cerebral (brain) blood flow,” explained Omer Bonne, head of inpatient psychiatry and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel.

“Currently, clinical psychiatry is based almost solely on subjective observer-based judgment. Our findings suggest that objective imaging evaluations could support subjective clinical decisions.”€ he said.

Sounds like what we have been saying, what Amen has been saying, for many years. Doesn't mean we have to run out and scan everybody, just that others do see the validity of the evidence.

The link above is only the press release, but links to the article are available there [above].

cp