Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging in psychiatric disorders

Objective: To report on recent advances in both structural and functional brain imaging studies in psychiatry and to highlight their importance for the field. Method: We reviewed recently published articles dealing with such advances and abstracted them into a selective review of the field. Results: Some of the more important trends include integration of genetic information into research studies, use of novel quantitative image measurement techniques, studies of new subject populations, the use of pharmacologic probes in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, the incorporation of elements of virtual reality into fMRI task stimuli, and the methodological innovation of hyperscanning. Conclusions: A whole series of new approaches and techniques are resulting in rapid advances in neuroimaging in psychiatry. Several of these show the potential for clinical translation.