The BBC reports that a brain training technique which helps people control activity in a specific part of the brain could help treat depression. 

Cardiff University researchers used MRI scanners to show eight people how their brains reacted to positive imagery. After four sessions of the therapy the participants had seen significant improvements in their depression.

Another eight who were asked to think positively but did not see brain images as they did so showed no change.  The researchers said they believed the MRI scans allowed participants to work out, through trial and error, which sort of positive emotional imagery was most effective.

But the team acknowledge that further research, involving a larger number of people, is needed to ascertain how effective the therapy is, particularly in the long term. Prof David Linden, who led the study which was published in the PLoS One journal, said it had the potential to become part of the "treatment package" for depression.

About a fifth of people will develop depression at some point in their lives and a third of those will not respond to standard treatments. Prof Linden added: "One of the interesting aspects of this technique is that it gives patients the experience of controlling aspects of their own brain activity.
"Many of them were very interested in this new way of engaging with their brains."


A vit of a limited study and I'm not sure how many would benefit if an MRI scanner was required for everyone! But as the researcher says it is early days and more studies will be required to determine its true efficacyStill as someone who  suffered from depression for much of his adult life, any effective treatment that doesn't mean taking drugs is going to be welcome