Could fNIRS Promote Neuroscience Approach in Clinical Psychology?

The purpose of the present commentary is to consider new perspectives of investigation methods used in clinical psychology studies. We propose that functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) has several important advantages over currently used methods. This technique opens the opportunity to transfer psychophysiological evidences in clinical settings, for example to evaluate psychophysiological underpinnings of depressive symptomatology. Indeed, fNIRS technology might be promisingly used to find out objective biomarkers of relapse risk of depression after pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments.