Using Brain Imaging to Subtype Major Depression

The heterogeneity of major depression has limited our ability to predict course and treatment outcome and to personalize treatment of our depressed patients. Subtyping by symptoms has not yielded clinically useful categories. In a multisite study, researchers used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in 333 depressed patients and 378 controls to explore patterns of neural connectivity among 258 functional nodes spanning the whole brain.

Overall, patients shared a core pattern of connectivity, highly correlated with symptoms of mood, anhedonia, and anergy. In addition, the initial analysis found two broad subtypes of connectivity in limbic and frontostriatal networks related to core depressive features of anhedonia — psychomoto…