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Addressing the oversight of hemispheric differences in psychiatry research

Nature Mental Health volume 3, pages 389–390 (2025)Cite this article

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Neuroscientific research in psychiatry has made considerable strides; however, a crucial aspect of brain function remains underexplored: hemispheric lateralization. Ignoring the left–right differences in brain structure and function severely limits the validity of research findings and their relevance to treatment strategies, such as neuromodulation. Although lateralization has long been recognized as a fundamental principle of brain organization, it is still frequently overlooked in psychiatric studies, which leads to overgeneralization of brain functions, failure to account for individual variability in symptom presentation, inaccurate diagnoses, and treatment recommendations that do not address the specific needs of patients with different hemispheric involvement, all stemming from oversimplified models of psychiatric disorders.

The importance of hemispheric asymmetries is underscored by research showing that nearly all brain structures exhibit structural and functional differences between the left and right hemispheres. For example, the ENIGMA-Laterality Working Group has identified substantial volume differences between hemispheres in key brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and basal ganglia1,2. These structures are central to many psychiatric conditions, yet the implications of their lateralized functions are frequently neglected. Hemispheric differences manifest in anatomical asymmetries, such as differences in volume, shape, microstructure and functional lateralization, whereby each hemisphere often specializes in distinct cognitive and emotional tasks. Most brain structures exhibit left–right asymmetries in structure, function and connectivity1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISM Institute for Systems Medicine and Department of Human Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Annakarina Mundorf

  2. ICAN Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Sebastian Ocklenburg

  3. Biopsychology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Sebastian Ocklenburg

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  1. Annakarina Mundorf
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  2. Sebastian Ocklenburg
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Correspondence to Annakarina Mundorf.

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Mundorf, A., Ocklenburg, S. Addressing the oversight of hemispheric differences in psychiatry research. Nat. Mental Health 3, 389–390 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00405-7

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