Is brain imaging the future for bipolar disorder diagnosis in adolescents?

The study emphasises the potential of adopting a multimodal approach, incorporating imaging and behavioural data, to improve diagnosis of bipolar disorder in adolescence.

Emiliana Tonini summarises a recent Chinese study, which suggests that combining MRI scan and behavioural assessments data may increase the accuracy of diagnosing bipolar disorder in adolescents.

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Brain-body health please: new research supports integrated physical and mental health care

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Athina Aruldass finds that management of serious neuropsychiatric disorders should acknowledge the importance of poor physical health and target restoration of both brain and body function.

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Neuroimaging abnormalities in first-episode psychosis: clinically-relevant or not?

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Joe Pierre considers a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of neuroimaging abnormalities in first-episode psychosis and the clinical relevance for service users presenting with first-episode psychosis.

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Can brain scans tell us how successful CBT for anxiety will be? Meta-analysis of task-based fMRI studies shows promise

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Millie Lowther, Isabel Luetkenherm, Carlos Mena and Alexandra Pike summarise a recent fMRI meta-analysis, which finds that activation in brain circuits related to salience, interoception and emotional processing were found to predict a positive response to CBT in anxiety disorders.

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Deep brain stimulation for severe depression: could ‘brain pacemakers’ be the answer for some?

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Alexandra Pike, Alexis An Yee Low and Jonathan Roiser critically appraise a recent n-of-1 study on ‘brain pacemakers for depression’, which received extensive press coverage earlier this month. The case study looks at deep brain stimulation (closed-loop neuromodulation) in an individual with treatment-resistant depression.

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Can brain scans help reduce the guilt and shame associated with adolescent self-harm?

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Rachel Symons summarises a recent study, which shows that poor connectivity between brain regions may be an indicator of non-suicidal self-injury in young people.

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Is schizophrenia a by-product of human evolution?

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Muzaffer Kaser writes his debut elf blog on a recent study, which looks at evolutionary modifications in human brain connectivity associated with schizophrenia.

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ADHD remission: why do some children ‘outgrow’ ADHD whilst others don’t?

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A group of UCL Mental Health Masters students summarise a recent literature review that explores the potential pathways to ADHD remission.

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What causes Autistic Spectrum Disorder?

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Ben Janaway explores a recent review in JAMA Psychiatry on the emerging clinical neuroscience of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Emotional symptoms in adolescent girls: what can we learn from the functional connectivity of neural pathways?

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Shubhangi Karmaker on a recent resting-state fMRI study that explores neural network disturbances that underpin the emergence of emotional symptoms in adolescent girls.

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