Normalizing Uncertain Threat: What Change in Anxiety-Potentiated Startle Can Tell Us About Anxiety Treatment

Identifying biomarkers and candidate mechanisms underlying psychological disorders represents an intriguing path toward improving treatments. The promise of this line of research is twofold. First, it can facilitate a more targeted approach to treatment by enabling interventions to specifically target the mechanisms responsible for changes in psychological dysfunction, thereby leading to more potent and personalized interventions. Second, the presence or absence of change in a biomarker or mechanism during treatment may serve as a prognostic indicator of treatment response or maintenance of gains, with the potential to be a more sensitive indicator of clinical change than alternative measures and to inform clinical decision making (e.g., whether to continue or alter treatment approach).
Source: Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Early Career Investigator Commentary Source Type: research