Tracking Functional Brain Changes in Patients with Depression under Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Using Individualized Stimuli

This unusually ambitious study looked at the impact of psychodynamic psychotherapy on specific brain functions that correlate with depression. After an eight-month course of psychodynamic therapy focused on ‘intrapsychic conflict and ‘dysfunctional interpersonal relations,’ 18 adults with long-term depression had marked changes in brain functions associated with emotional regulation and reactivity – specifically the amygdala and the basal ganglia.