Hair cortisol and childhood trauma predict psychological therapy response in depression and anxiety disorders

Objective Around 30–50% of patients with depression and anxiety disorders fail to respond to standard psychological therapy. Given that cortisol affects cognition, patients with altered hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal ( HPA ) axis functioning may benefit less from such treatments. To investigate this, reliable pretreatment cortisol measures are needed. Method N = 89 outpatients with depression and anxiety disorders were recruited before...