Neuroimaging Hypotheses and Protocol
mood instability
CORTEX
We examined changes in neural functioning from before to after 4 months of psychosocial treatment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Youth were scanned only if they did not have MRI contraindications (Broadly, we hypothesized that intrinsic networks and neural network function subserving emotional control and problem-solving would be enhanced by FFT-HR compared to EC. Specifically, during rest, we hypothesized that FFT-HR would increase cortico-limbic connectivity to a greater extent than EC and that treatment-related changes in connectivity would correlate with pre- to post-treatment improvements in symptom severity. During emotion processing, we hypothesized that youth in FFT-HR would show greater reductions in amygdala activation and greater increases in DLPFC and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activation compared to those in EC. Further, we hypothesized that decreases in amygdala activation and increases in DLPFC activation would be associated with symptom improvement over the pre- to post-treatment interval. During problem solving, we hypothesized that changes in corticolimbic activation would correspond with changes in mood instability, which is frequently reported by parents and probands when the latter are challenged with daily complex executive functioning tasks, such as addressing conflicts within the family.