Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
activation during task performance was either not observed or occurred only in a
small area in patients with depression. After therapy, patients with higher degrees of
improvement in the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score demonstrated greater
increases in brain activation. These results suggest that patients with depression
treated by cognitive behavioral therapy demonstrated increased activation corre-
sponding to the level of improvement in depression symptoms in areas of the brain
related to negative cognition with regard to the future. This
!
finding demonstrates
that, by combining the types of cognitive tasks introduced in this study with fMRI
or other functional neuroimaging methods, it is possible to objectively evaluate the
effects of emotion and cognition regulation brought about by intervention effects
and therapeutic reactions from psychotherapy.
3 Future Issues in Psychophysiology
In this chapter, we have outlined the methodology of psychophysiology and dis-
cussed our understanding of the mechanisms of emotion, as well as the potential
development of methods to regulate emotion. In doing so, we introduce the con-
tributions of the psychophysiological approach in psychiatry with respect to its
relationship with neuroscience.
Although the psychophysiological approach advances our understanding of the
pathologies of mental disorders and the improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic
techniques, contributions to clinical training and practice are still developing.
Further accumulation of veri
!
ed data is necessary in order to apply psychophysi-
ological approach to evidence-based medicine in a psychiatric setting. If physicians,
nurses, psychologists, and other medical professionals in psychiatric teams can
utilize psychophysiological veri
!
ed data related to mental disorders to achieve
greater understanding of psychiatric disease, it will be possible to perform better
assessment and treatment based on the relationship between the patient's psycho-
logical/behavioral issues (such as emotional distortion) and the physiological
mechanisms underlying those issues. In addition, from an educational perspective,
the introduction of curricula related to psychophysiology and neuroscience,
including neurophysiology and other forms of physiological knowledge, is strongly
desired for the training of practitioners expert in the psychophysiological approach.
Lastly, we will discuss issues that must be considered by researchers and
practitioners using the psychophysiological approach when conducting basic and
applied research. Should research continue to progress to the point where assess-
ment techniques using functional neuroimaging methods such as those discussed in
this paper become possible, assessments would entail individual evaluations of
brain function. If, for instance, brain function evaluation were to discover a risk of
mental illness onset in an individual who has not developed a mental illness, it
would lead to an ethical problem for researchers and medical professionals
regarding the appropriate response to this circumstance. Respect for ethics related to
individual privacy is a basic tenet in research and medicine. Currently, as brain
