Identifying Treatment Response of Sertraline in a Teenager with Selective Mutism using Electrophysiological Neuroimaging

Background: Selective Mutism is described as the inability to verbally express oneself in anxiety provoking social situations and may result in awkward social interactions in school-aged children. In this case-report we present the baseline electrophysiological neuroimaging results and after treatment with Sertraline for 6-weeks. Methods: A 20-channel EEG event-related potential recording was acquired during an internal voice task at baseline prior to the initiation of 50mg of Sertraline and then repeated 6-weeks after treatment with Sertraline. EEG signals were processed for movement, eye-blink, and muscle artifacts and ERP signal averaging was completed. ERPs were analyzed using Standard Low Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA). Results: At baseline, Sertraline increased the neuronal activation in the middle temporal gyrus and the anterior cingulate gyrus from baseline in the patient following 6-weeks of treatment. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that electrophysiological neuroimaging may provide a creative approach for personalizing medicine by providing insight to the pharmacodynamics of antidepressants.