ABSTRACT
Some have argued that psychiatric disorders should be considered brain disorders (Insel, 2011). Even if one disagrees with this sentiment and prefers to consider mental illnesses as disorders of behavior, the fact remains that all behaviors involve the brain. As such, studies of the brain are uniquely poised to specify core features of the disorders clinical psychologists observe and treat in the clinic. For example, neural and genetic measures have identified risk factors for psychiatric disorders (Gilbertson et al., 2002; Kong et al., in press) and are paving the way toward improved diagnostic systems by identifying both overlapping and distinct neural patterns across disorders (Brotman et al., 2010; Weissman, Chu, Reddy, & Mohlman, 2012). These measures also set the stage for more efficacious treatments by identifying neural changes following psychosocial treatments (Paquette et al., 2003), predictors of response to psychosocial and pharmacological interventions (Maslowsky et al., 2010; McClure et al., 2007 ; Pizzagalli, 2010; Siegle, Carter, & Thase, 2006), and even direct manipulations of brain activity to ameliorate the symptoms of the most severe and treatment-refractory patients (Kennedy et al., 2011; Mayberg et al., 2005).
