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Emotional Processing and Antidepressant Action

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Behavioral Neurobiology of Depression and Its Treatment

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 14))

Abstract

Negative affective schema and associated biases in information processing have long been associated with clinical depression. Such an approach has guided the development of successful psychological therapies for this and other emotional disorders. However, until quite recently, there has been a large chasm between the practitioners and scientists working with this approach and those working on the neurobiological basis of depression and its treatment. Recent research, however, has started to bridge this gap and our understanding of the neural processes underpinning these cognitive processes has progressed markedly over the past decade. Moreover, rather than representing separate targets for psychological and biological treatments, novel findings suggest that pharmacological interventions for depression also modify these psychological maintaining factors early in treatment and may be involved in the later emergence of clinically relevant change. Such findings offer the possibility of greater integration between psychological and pharmacological conceptualisations of psychiatric illness and provide an experimental medicine model to generate and test specific predictions. Such a model could be applied to improve treatment development, stratification and combination approaches for patients with depression and provide a framework for considering and overcoming treatment nonresponse.

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Conflict of Interest

Catherine serves on the advisory board of P1vital Ltd and owns shares in the company. She is also a company director of Oxford Psychologists Ltd and has received consultancy fees over the last 3 years from Eli-Lilly, P1vital, GSK and Servier.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warneford Hospital, University Department of Psychiatry, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK

    Catherine J. Harmer

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  1. Catherine J. Harmer
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Correspondence to Catherine J. Harmer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Warneford Hospital, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, United Kingdom

    Philip J. Cowen

  2. Dept. Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3QT, United Kingdom

    Trevor Sharp

  3. , Dep of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom

    Jennifer Y. F. Lau

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Harmer, C.J. (2012). Emotional Processing and Antidepressant Action. In: Cowen, P., Sharp, T., Lau, J. (eds) Behavioral Neurobiology of Depression and Its Treatment. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 14. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2012_210

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