**5. Conclusion**

Long before the era of functional neuroimaging it was suggested that intervention-driven changes in affect, cognition and behavior appear to have measurable biological analogues [85]. To date, the potential to characterize neural mechanisms of recovery processes have amassed vast neuroimaging data on treatment-induced brain plasticity. Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy appear to engage neural circuits that are responsive to a discrete treatment modality. Although both have similar effects on brain activity patterns in patients who share the same diagnosis, their neural systems profile is not identical. While the former appears to act in a bottom- up manner on a subcortical level to regulate higher cortical structures, the latter acts top-down on cortical activity to subsequently impact subcortical regions. Although neuroimaging techniques have revolutionized our biological insight into recovery processes, little can be concluded about the precise neurobiological mechanism of these changes. The remaining question is whether these changes elucidate a neural mechanism of treatment action or simply reflect correlates of symptom amelioration. Despite methodological and theoretical limitations neuroimaging literature holds promise to strengthen the credibility and utility of mainstay in psychiatric treatment, and to improve clinical decision-making.
