Brain map targets treatment for depression and schizophrenia

A breakthrough study that mapped brain changes in people with different mental disorders has opened the way for more targeted treatment of conditions like depression and schizophrenia.

Professor Alex Fornito at Monash Brain Park in Melbourne. Picture: Leigh Henningham

A breakthrough Australian-led study that mapped brain changes in people with different mental disorders has opened the way for more targeted treatment of conditions like depression and schizophrenia.

The brain mapping study, published in Nature Neuroscience by a team from Monash University’s Turner Institute, analysed the wide variety of grey matter volume in the different parts of the brains of participants diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, autism spectrum disorder, and more.

Analysing the volume of grey matter showed researchers how nutrients were being allocated, and what the brain prioritises.

By looking at how different people with the same condition were affected in different regions of the brain, researchers could see how much variation there was to the genetic component of mental conditions.

Ashlea Segal, the PhD candidate leading the study, is hopeful that better imaging and understanding can help future clinicians better diagnose and treat cognitive disorders.

“By focusing on deviations or alterations in individual people, we can develop a personalised understanding of the challenges faced by a given individual and, hopefully, develop more tailored treatments,” she said.

Alex Fornito, whose Turner Institute lab oversaw the study, hopes the results discourage the “one-size-fits-all” approach to treatment and pushes clinicians to personalise therapies.