Circuit-Based Psychiatry links symptoms to identifiable brain circuits—threat, reward, cognitive control, and default mode—so treatments can be mapped to targets rather than diagnoses alone. This page turns systems neuroscience into clinical moves: how attentional bias, anhedonia, or rumination relate to circuit dysfunction; where CBT elements, medications, neuromodulation, and behavioral prescriptions converge on the same nodes; and how to use task cues, sleep, and activity scheduling to nudge networks toward stability. If you are surveying events like a neuropsychiatry conference, you’ll find practical ways to translate imaging and cognitive testing into stepped care without overpromising biomarkers or relying on unavailable scans.

Real-world programs don’t need fMRI on every patient—they need coherent hypotheses and reproducible routines. We frame “symptom → circuit → lever” playbooks: exposure for threat circuits; behavioral activation and contingency strategies for reward; working-memory drills and distraction budgets for control; and mindfulness/cueing for default mode overactivity. Medication choices align with sleep/circadian timing to protect plasticity; TMS/ECT decisions are grounded in safety and function, not just scores. For mechanism-adjacent content focused on targets and endpoints, see Neurocircuitry and Treatment Targets, which complements this page’s clinic-first lens.