Brain Scan Predicts the Success of Social Anxiety Disorder Treatment 39
jan_jes writes: MIT researchers performed brain scans on 38 SAD patients and were able to predict with about 80% accuracy which patients would do well in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Use of the scans to predict treatment outcomes improved predictions fivefold over use of a clinician's assessment alone. The researchers used a form of brain imaging that scans patients in a state of rest. Resting-state images can be done quickly and reliably, so they have the potential to be used in a clinical setting. “Choice of therapy is like a wheel of chance,” says first author Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, a research scientist in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. “We’re hoping to use brain imaging to help provide more reliable predictors of treatment response.”
Re: (Score:2)
I just use cannibus. Done. No shrinks, no medications wrecking my liver.
How do you think your body processes THC though your system?
So... (Score:1)
... what's wrong with social anxiety?
Most people are assholes so it seems quite reasonable as a general attitude, doesn't it?
Re: (Score:2)
This feels like the Star Trek episode that was a metaphor for curing homosexuality. I can't remember the name of that episode, nor did I identify with it overly much, but now it hits closer to home.
I don't want to be cured of SAD, I want to be cured of the externally imposed need to social.
Re: (Score:2)
This feels like the Star Trek episode that was a metaphor for curing homosexuality. I can't remember the name of that episode, nor did I identify with it overly much, but now it hits closer to home.
I don't want to be cured of SAD, I want to be cured of the externally imposed need to social.
Are you certain you actually have SAD? Sounds more like you are more a normal person who doesn't need to be around others for self validation.
Here in America, it's unfortunate that not needing other people to validate ourselves is looked at as some sort of mental defect. You hear all the stupid truisms, like "You have to watch out for the quite ones, or noting that some psycho who went crazy and shot up a restaurant "was a loner". As if the cause of the loner's going crazy was that he wasn't talkative, ra
Re: (Score:2)
They "put you in your place", you refuse to accept it and you escape into solitude instead, then they hunt you down and "cure" you of your "wicked ways".
For me at least, I need to recharge the batteries every so often, and that requires getting away from people. It's when I do a lot of thinking and problem solving. Otherwise, I can socialize just fine until I need my next recharge. But you are not wrong. A lot of people who aren't social adepts get punished for it. And that just ain't right.
Re: (Score:2)
That said, I'm not sure I agree that treating social anxiety disorder is the same as "curing hom
Re: (Score:2)
there is a basic minimum of human interaction that you need to function in this society
Emphasis mine, and that is exactly my point. It wasn't always necessary, but the trend is that it will become more necessary, not less. That is my point.
Most of our technology development is headed in the wrong direction, it's designed to hold us hostage to each other rather than liberate us of each other. Curing SAD may be necessary in this future society, I would rather live in one where it is not necessary.
Re: (Score:2)
I think that technology is sending up farther apart. It's possible to go through life with barely any human contact now. You can order most things online and have them delivered to your door. When you go shopping there are some places you can check out yourself. You don't ask people how to do things anymore because you look it up online. Sure we may know what fifty of our "friends" had for dinner last night but when was the last time we sat down and had a proper talk with one of them? Well, there migh
Re: (Score:2)
I believe there is a big difference between being introverted and having social anxiety - I think I qualify for both descriptions but I see them as two separate things. Being introverted just means you need alone time and don't crave so much social interaction. Social anxiety is a paralyzing fear that prevents you from being able to interact socially even when you want/need to. Lots of introverts are happy being introverts but I have a hard time believing that anyone with social anxiety wouldn't desire a cu
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
... what's wrong with social anxiety?
Most people are assholes so it seems quite reasonable as a general attitude, doesn't it?
My problem with my social anxiety is that I can't choose who or when it gets applied to.
Even my close friends whom aren't assholes have had to put up with me "disappearing" for weeks or months on end during attacks, and while those friends are all pretty understanding of my problem it still has to be pretty hard on them as well as myself.
I've only so far found one medication that, sorta kind technically fixes the problem.
Mainly, while I don't feel anxiety while on it thus it technically works, I also don't feel anything else at all. No happiness, no sadness, no empathy, no looking forward to anything, etc.
While not under an attack I can see that given the choice between feeling only bad and feeling nothing, at least nothing is arguably better in that the bad is gone and nothing else changes.
But during an attack it's typically quite the battle convincing myself there is any point in living life without anything good to look forward to.
While CBT hasn't worked on me, I do hope this tech gets to the point to identify other treatments that would have a higher (or any) success rate.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The medicine I was on is called Citalopram (it used to be brand name Celexa), which after a few months I was at 40mg per day for almost 5 years.
I was 31 or 32 when I started taking it, and stopped taking it just a year ago or so. I'm 37 now.
The bulk of the effects took a week or so to kick in, but a bit longer to stop since they lower your dose over a period before stopping to avoid withdraw symptoms.
The only big difference I've noticed since I stopped taking it completely is depression kicking in more oft
Re: (Score:2)
+1
Re: (Score:1)
Except that the scan identifies who will respond well to treatment...
Re: (Score:1)
What about those who have so much anxiety that they wouldn't be able to get the scan?
Re: (Score:2)
It isn't about "fixing" someone, any more than you "fix" an alcoholic or "fix" a schizophrenic. That latent trait will always persist. Treatment is about managing the condition, keeping it controlled to the point that it no longer presents a severely negative impact on your quality of life.
There are different treatment methods, but which one a person will respond to is largely a guess, even for an experienced therapist. The goal is avoid the process of spending months trying Method A to no effect, then mont
Actually (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
They ought to do some brain scans of people who can't function away from people while they are at it.
If you keep that kind of talk up, and it catches on, you're going to have to account for an Imperial fuck tonne of Kardashians on the Welfare.
As a person who doesn't need a lot of social interaction, but is completely comfortablle in social situations, I'm closer to understanding the recluse than the social butterfly.
My 2 cents and YMMV: An ability to light up the room in social situations is typically good for those with ladder climbing intentions. Individuals who can accomplish that and still prefer the general absence of human interaction have only figured out how superficial social skills actually are.
Re: (Score:2)
Potentially revolutionary for psychiatric medicine (Score:1)
The article doesn't mention anything about it, but this opens the possibility that there might be an objective way to determine if a person really needs drugs for their mental issues. Are depression and ADHD over-medicated? We might be able to tell, with a real test for if you need Prozac or a new hobby, or if a kid actually needs Adderall or just more exercise.
Re: (Score:2)
My worry with this thinking (determining who "really needs it") is that no test is perfect, and it needs to be really really good before it's okay to use it as diagnosis (and refuse care to those who don't pass the test).
Even if it's 95% effective, I'd hate to be the one-in-twenty person who is wrongly told "Nope, you're faking it, no brain medicine for you."
Give me pizza instead (Score:1)
Me. no. leave. basement.
Ooo! That's a good idea! (Score:2)
Fivefold more accurate than what? (Score:2)
MIT researchers performed brain scans on 38 SAD patients and were able to predict with about 80% accuracy which patients would do well in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Use of the scans to predict treatment outcomes improved predictions fivefold over use of a clinician's assessment alone.
If the scan is both 80% accurate and five fold better than the clinicians' assessments, then the clinicians' assessments are only 16% accurate. Unless it has already been shown that only a small percentage of SAD patients respond well to CBT, clinicians would be much better off just flipping a coin than using their own judgement. But if the percentage is small, then you can't determine the accuracy of the test by looking at just 38 patients.
Article is fucked.