Predictors of Treatment Outcome With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
Condition: Major Depressive Disorder
MeSH terms: Depression; Depressive Disorder; Depressive Disorder, Major
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this research study is to learn whether specific types of brain imaging and
      psychological testing can predict how much benefit patients with depression will receive from
      a well-studied psychotherapy for depression, called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and
      how the brain imaging and psychological tests change with treatment. We will also be
      comparing brain scans from this study between individuals suffering from depression and
      volunteers without depression.

      This study offers 14 sessions of one-on-one cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) over twelve
      weeks, administered by an experienced doctoral-level psychologist or psychiatrist.
    

Detailed description: 
      Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects 13.1 - 14.2 million American adults annually.
      Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a structured psychotherapy that has been demonstrated
      in multiple studies to be an effective treatment for MDD. Not all patients achieve a full
      remission from MDD with CBT, however. Mental health clinicians currently lack clinical or
      biological markers that can reliably predict treatment outcome with CBT for MDD. Developing
      such markers could greatly improve clinical outcomes, and could facilitate matching of
      patients to treatments that are likely to help them. A recent functional magnetic resonance
      imaging (fMRI) study in healthy individuals examined the neural correlates of cognitive
      strategies to regulate emotional responses to emotional stimuli. The emotional regulation
      techniques used in this fMRI study map closely onto the cognitive restructuring techniques
      that are a primary tool used in CBT for MDD. There is evidence that patients with depression
      may benefit most from a psychotherapy that draws on their existing strengths. We therefore
      propose to examine the neural representations of emotion regulation as a predictor of
      treatment outcome with CBT for MDD. We will recruit subjects with MDD in a current major
      depressive episode. Research participants will complete baseline psychological and biological
      assessments, including MRI and functional MRI imaging. Following scanning, subjects will
      receive 14 sessions of individual CBT for depression over 12 weeks, administered by an
      experienced psychiatrist or psychologist. Baseline assessments will be examined as predictors
      of treatment outcome with CBT for depression.
    

Intervention name(s): Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): 14 sessions of individual psychotherapy (cognitive behavioral therapy) for depression over 12 weeks
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: depression; cognitive therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy; CBT; psychotherapy; MDD; major depressive disorder; MRI; fMRI