I am a neuroscientist and consultant neuroradiologist with an interest in understanding the disease course of major depression and anxiety disorders

Olga Therese Ousdal, MD PhD, is a consultant radiologist (20%) at Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, and an associate professor (100%) at Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen. 

Mental disorders are dynamic disorders, where the type and degree of symptoms may vary over the disease course. I am interested in understanding the various disease transitions, including the transition from premorbid to active disease, from active disease to remission (following treatment) and from remission to relapse. I use my expertise in radiology in combination with clinical and multiomic data to address my research questions. 

Currently, I am leading the neuroimaging work packages at Center for Research on Neurostimulation treatments (UiB) https://www.uib.no/k1/163177/forskergruppe-nevrostimulerende-behandling-og-hjerneavbildning and The Bergen Center for Brain Plasticity (Helse Bergen/UiB) https://helse-bergen.no/en/bergen-center-for-brain-plasticity. I am also affiliated with the Neurotargeting group at Department of Biomedicine, UiB. https://www.uib.no/en/rg/neurotarg. 

Research awards:

Ousdal´s work has gained both national and international attention, and she is the recipient of the Marie Spångberg Award 2020 by the Norwegian Medical Association, the Falch Junior Award 2022 by The Faculty of Medicine, UiB  and the Young Scientist award 2022 by the Western Norway Regional Health Authority

For an overview of recent publications, please see Google scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=opHslbAAAAAJ&hl=no

Students interested in pursuing a MS, MD with a research track or PhD within these areas of research are encouraged to contact me.

My research has been featured in local, national and international media:

• Bergens Tidende: https://www.bt.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/1q4BM/skanner-hodene-til-utoeya-ungdom
• TV2 news: https://www.tv2.no/a/13640828/,
• PsyPost: https://www.psypost.org/2018/01/study-terror-attack-survivors-suggests-trauma-can-long-term-influences-make-decisions-50645
• Dagens Medisin: https://www.dagensmedisin.no/artikler/2019/10/02/ny-elektrosjokk-forskning-forkaster-tidligere-teori/,
• Forskning.no: https://forskning.no/hjernen-psykiske-lidelser/elektrosjokk-oker-volumet-i-store-deler-av-hjernen/1573515,
• ABC news: https://www.abcnyheter.no/helse-og-livsstil/helse/2019/10/07/195616233/elektrosjokk-oker-volumet-i-store-deler-av-hjernen

 

MED4 - Human physiology

I have also taught biological psychology (PROPSY303)

Academic article

• Verdijk, Joey P. A. J.; van de Mortel, Laurens A.; ten Doesschate, Freek et al. (2024). Longitudinal resting-state network connectivity changes in electroconvulsive therapy patients compared to healthy controls. (external link)
• Laroy, Maarten; Bouckaert, Filip; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2024). Characterization of gray matter volume changes from one week to 6 months after termination of electroconvulsive therapy in depressed patients. (external link)
• Hammar, Åsa Karin; Schmid, Marit Therese; Petersdotter, Linn et al. (2023). Inhibitory control as possible risk and/or resilience factor for the development of trauma related symptoms–a study of the Utøya terror attack survivors. (external link)
• Almdahl, Ina Selseth; Martinussen, Liva Jenny; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2023). Task-based functional connectivity reveals aberrance with the salience network during emotional interference in late-life depression. (external link)
• Argyelan, Miklos; Deng, Zhi-De; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2023). Electroconvulsive therapy-induced volumetric brain changes converge on a common causal circuit in depression. (external link)
• Frid, Leila Marie; Kessler, Ute; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2023). Neurobiological mechanisms of ECT and TMS treatment in depression: study protocol of a multimodal magnetic resonance investigation. (external link)
• de Joode, Niels T.; Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; Vriend, Chris et al. (2023). Linking resting state metabolite concentrations in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex to response inhibition in OCD, a combined fMRI-MRS study. (external link)
• Lindanger, Line; Strand, Torbjørn; Mølster, Anders et al. (2022). Predictors of osteoarthritis development at a median 25 years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using a patellar tendon autograft. (external link)
• de Joode, Niels T.; Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; Vester, Eline L. et al. (2021). Longitudinal changes in neurometabolite concentrations in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex after concentrated exposure therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. (external link)
• Hagland, Pernille; Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2021). Disentangling Within- and Between-Person Effects During Response Inhibition in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (external link)
• Brancati, Giulio Emilio; Brekke, Njål; Bartsch, Hauke et al. (2021). Short and long-term effects of single and multiple sessions of electroconvulsive therapy on brain gray matter volumes. (external link)
• Brecke, Vilde; Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2021). Diffusion Tensor Imaging Before and 3 Months After Concentrated Exposure Response Prevention in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (external link)
• Opel, Nils; Narr, Katherine L; Abbott, Christopher et al. (2021). Elevated body weight modulates subcortical volume change and associated clinical response following electroconvulsive therapy. (external link)
• Takamiya, Akihiro; Dols, Annemiek; Emsell, Louise et al. (2021). Neural Substrates of Psychotic Depression: Findings From the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration. (external link)
• Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; de Wit, Stella J.; Hagland, Pernille et al. (2020). Stable inhibition-related inferior frontal hypoactivation and fronto-limbic hyperconnectivity in obsessive–compulsive disorder after concentrated exposure therapy. (external link)
• Thorsen, Anders Lillevik; Vriend, Chris; de Wit, Stella J. et al. (2020). Effects of Bergen 4-day treatment on resting-state graph features in obsessive-compulsive disorder. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Milde, Anne Marita; Hafstad, Gertrud Sofie et al. (2020). The association of PTSD symptom severity with amygdala nuclei volumes in traumatized youths. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Kaufmann, Tobias; Kolskår, Knut-Kristian et al. (2019). Longitudinal stability of the brain functional connectome is associated with episodic memory performance in aging. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Argyelan, Miklos; Narr, Katherine L. et al. (2019). Brain changes induced by electroconvulsive therapy are broadly distributed. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Milde, Anne Marita; Craven, Alexander R. et al. (2018). Prefrontal glutamate levels predict altered amygdala–prefrontal connectivity in traumatized youths. (external link)
• Moutoussis, Michael; Rutledge, Robb B.; Prabhu, Gita et al. (2018). Neural activity and fundamental learning, motivated by monetary loss and reward, are intact in mild to moderate major depressive disorder. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Huys, Quentin J.; Milde, Anne Marita et al. (2017). The impact of traumatic stress on Pavlovian biases. (external link)
• Grønli, Janne; Melinder, Annika Maria D; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2017). Life threat and sleep disturbances in adolescents: a two-year follow-up of survivors from the 2011 Utøya, Norway, terror attack. (external link)
• Rutledge, Robb B.; Moutoussis, Michael; Smittenaar, Peter et al. (2017). Association of neural and emotional impacts of reward prediction errors with major depression. (external link)
• Rigoli, Francesco; Rutledge, Robb B.; Chew, Benjamin et al. (2016). Dopamine increases a value-independent gambling propensity. (external link)
• Rahm, Christoffer; Liberg, Benny; Reckless, Greg et al. (2015). Negative symptoms in schizophrenia show association with amygdala volumes and neural activation during affective processing. (external link)
• Crockett, Molly J.; Siegel, Jenifer Z.; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb et al. (2015). Dissociable Effects of Serotonin and Dopamine on the Valuation of Harm in Moral Decision Making. (external link)
• Reckless, Greg; Ousdal, Olga Therese; SERVER, ANDRES et al. (2014). The left inferior frontal gyrus is involved in adjusting response bias during a perceptual decision-making task. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Andreassen, Ole Andreas; SERVER, ANDRES et al. (2014). Increased amygdala and visual cortex activity and functional connectivity towards stimulus novelty is associated with state anxiety. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Specht, Karsten; SERVER, ANDRES et al. (2014). The human amygdala encodes value and space during decision making. (external link)
• Tesli, Martin Steen; Skåtun, Kristina Cecilie; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2013). CACNA1C Risk Variant and Amygdala Activity in Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Brown, Andrew; Jensen, Jimmy Kristian et al. (2012). Associations Between Variants Near a Monoaminergic Pathways Gene (PHOX2B) and Amygdala Reactivity: A Genome-Wide Functional Imaging Study. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Reckless, Greg; Andrès, Server et al. (2012). Effect of relevance on amygdala activation and association with the ventral striatum. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Abe, Yoshifumi; Erchinger, Vera Jane; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2024). Neurobiological mechanisms of electroconvulsive therapy for depression: Insights into hippocampal volumetric increases from clinical and preclinical studies. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Brancati, Giulio E.; Kessler, Ute et al. (2021). The Neurobiological Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy Studied Through Magnetic Resonance: What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go?. (external link)

Masters thesis

• Boehmisch, Florence Friederike; Ousdal, Olga Therese; Thorsen, Anders Lillevik (2023). Early life adversity and trajectories of cortical myelination. (external link)

Errata

• Argyelan, Miklos; Deng, Zhi-De; Ousdal, Olga Therese et al. (2023). Correction: Electroconvulsive therapy-induced volumetric brain changes converge on a common causal circuit in depression (Molecular Psychiatry, (2023), 10.1038/s41380-023-02318-2). (external link)

Letter to the editor

• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Gjestad, Rolf; Oltedal, Leif (2021). Reply to: Clinical Relevance of Brain Changes After Electroconvulsive Therapy: Is There Really No Link at All?. (external link)

Academic lecture

• Milde, Anne Marita; Grønli, Janne; Ousdal, Olga Therese (2018). Funn fra prosjektet 'Akutt stress på en hjerne I utvikling'. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Lundervold, Astri; Westlye, Lars Tjelta et al. (2018). Longitudinal stability of the brain functional connectome is associated with episodic memory performance. (external link)

Popular scientific article

• Ousdal, Olga Therese (2015). Traumer: Hva kan terrorangrepet på Utøya lære oss?. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Milde, Anne Marita (2013). To år etter terrorangrepet. Hvordan har Utøya-ungdommene det når hverdagen har kommet?. (external link)

Poster

• Milde, Anne Marita; Ousdal, Olga Therese; Stavestrand, Silje Haukenes et al. (2014). Psychiatric long-term effects in Survivors from the terror attack at Utøya 22. July.. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Milde, Anne Marita; Craven, Alexander R. et al. (2014). Emotional conflict Processing in Survivors of the 2011 Oslo and Utøya terror attack; Behavioural and fMRI data.. (external link)
• Ousdal, Olga Therese; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Stavestrand, Silje Haukenes et al. (2014). The influence of action requirements and outcome valence on instrumental Learning after traumatic stress.. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Selected publications:

Ousdal OT, Brancati G, Kessler U, Erchinger V, Dale AM, Oltedal L. The neurobiological effects of electroconvulsive therapy studied through magnetic resonance – what have we learnt and where do we go? Biological Psychiatry. 2021

Ousdal OT, Argyelan M, Narr KL, Abbott C, Wade B, Vandenbulcke M, Urretavizcaya M, Tendolkar I, Takamiya A, Stek ML, Soriano-Mas C, Redlich R, Paulson OB, Oudega ML, Opel N, Nordanskog P, Kishimoto T, Kampe R, Jorgensen A, Hanson LG, Hamilton JP, Espinoza R, Emsell L, van Eijndhoven P, Dols A, Dannlowski U, Cardoner N, Bouckaert F, Anand A, Bartsch H, Kessler U, Oedegaard KJ, Dale AM, Oltedal L; GEMRIC. Brain changes induced by electroconvulsive therapy are broadly distributed. Biological Psychiatry. 2020

Ousdal OT, Milde AM, Hafstad GS, Hodneland E, Dyb G, Craven AR, Melinder A, Endestad T, Hudahl K. The association of PTSD symptom severity with amygdala nuclei volumes in traumatized youths. Translational Psychiatry. 2020

Rutledge RB, Moutoussis M, Smittenaar P, Zeidman P, Herlt T, Hrynkiewicz L, Lam J, Skandali N, Siegel JZ, Ousdal OT, Prabhu G, Dayan P, Fonagy P, Dolan RJ. Association of Neural and Emotional Impacts of Reward Prediction Errors with Major Depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 2017