What happens in the body when antidepressants work. An international group of researchers, led by Professor Gustavo Turecki of McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, examined changes in the activity of genes (measured using mRNA) in the blood in over 400 patients who were being treated with antidepressants. They identified one gene that was significantly more active …
Mobile Monitoring Systems for Depression Care
Passive tracking of vocal and behavioral indicators of symptoms via a smartphone app can be an effective way to treat depression in a time-sensitive and accurate fashion. A recent randomized clinical trial compared the use of an app to track indicators with “usual care” for depression, and, although the sample size is small, the results are very promising. For the …
CBASP Advanced Training and Certification for Gateway Therapists – Update
Gateway Psychiatric was established with the belief that in order to give our patients the best care possible, it is necessary to invest heavily in training for the clinical staff. We particularly focus on evidence based practices that have been shown to address significant problems facing our patients. Since chronic depression is one of the most common problems seen in …
GABA-A Agent SAGE-217: A New Antidepressant?
Psychiatrists and patients alike are hungry for new antidepressants. Few new medications have been developed in the last 10 years that are effective antidepressants, and those that have come to the market have all been variants of existing medications. The only really novel treatments for depression in the last 15 years in psychiatry are ketamine and TMS, both of which …
Exercise and Mental Health – A Therapist’s Guide
This is a great resource from Psychology Tools, with a huge amount of information about the use of exercise in treatment of mental illness, and a long bibliography of articles describing evidence related to the use of exercise, impact of physical exercise on mental health, ways of encouraging clients to exercise, and biological, psychological and social mechanisms by which exercise …
How Long Does It Take to Get Well with TMS
The most common question that people ask when they start TMS is how long it will take to get well with TMS. A recent article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry looked at the results from a six week study designed to compare theta burst and regular TMS in order to assess patterns of response over time. The authors …
Treatment Resistant Depression – More Clues to Predicting Response – VAST-D
Clues that can help us provide more effective care for those with treatment resistant depression are urgently needed. Sidney Zisook and colleagues report an analysis of the data from a large study of veterans with chronic depression (VAST-D) and conclude that two clinical features can help predict likely response to medications changes for some patients who have failed at least …
Ketamine Short Term Treatment Strategies
What are the best strategies for using ketamine to treat major depression in the short term? Although we know that ketamine (and, now, esketamine) can be helpful we really don’t know that much about what strategy works best. The most commonly used ketamine infusion protocol is adapted from studies using ketamine to treat chronic pain. An article in the March …
Gateway Staff attend APA Annual Conference in San Francisco – Chris
Recently the American Psychological Association (APA) held their annual conference here in San Francisco and Gateway staff was there to take advantage of the opportunity to update our knowledge of the most recent developments in the field. Gina Gregory, LCSW and I spent the long weekend attending workshops, presentations, and discussions in order to align ourselves with the current research …
Intranasal Esketamine is Effective for Depression
Intranasal esketamine is effective for treating severe depression and suicidality when added to comprehensive standard of care treatment in patients who were felt to be at imminent risk of suicide. 68 patients seen in an emergency department were randomized to receive esketamine or placebo as well as comprehensive treatment including inpatient care and antidepressant medications. Patients receiving esketamine had a …