Clinical Use of Neurophysiological Biomarkers and Self-Assessment Scales to Predict and Monitor Treatment Response for Psychotic and Affective Disorders

Abstract

Psychoses and affective disorders are severe mental illnesses with a considerable negative effect on an individual and global scale. They are among the most damaging and socially significant diseases, which contribute to permanent disabilities for the patients. The aim of this review is to analyse the capacity of neuroscientific methods as tools to reform psychiatry into a biologically valid medical discipline. Furthermore, it will focus on the application of the translational approach towards the diagnostic and therapeutic processes, as well as monitoring of treatment response by using valid biomarkers and psychometric instruments. By combining translational neuroscience with the latest psychopharmacology advances, clinicians might be able to provide better quality of precision and individualized medical care for their patients. We visualise a reality in which neuroimaging methods will modify the standard clinical evaluation of neuropsychiatric disorders, leading to a biologically valid diagnosis, monitoring and treatment in everyday clinical practice.

Keywords: depression; evidence-based psychiatry; neurophysiological biomarkers.; psychopharmacology; schizophrenia; translational neuroscience; treatment response.