New Biomarker for Treatment Response in Depression – GPR56/ADGRG1

Peter ForsterBasic Science, Major Depression, Treatments of Depression Leave a Comment

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 …

Treatment Resistant Depression – More Clues to Predicting Response – VAST-D

Peter ForsterMajor Depression, Treatments of Depression Leave a Comment

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 …

TMS Guidelines

Peter ForsterTreatments of Depression

In the April edition of Brain Stimulation, the Clinical TMS Society published expert consensus guidelines on the use of TMS. This definitive review of the literature identifies both what is known as well as significant areas of uncertainty about the use of TMS in the treatment of depression. The process of developing the guideline is described in the introduction to the …

Early intervention for depression helps

Peter ForsterBest Practices, Major Depression, Treatments of Depression

In a review of an article published in JAMA Psychiatry in early March 2016, Dr. Steven Dubovsky writes about encouraging findings about treatment efficacy of patients with major depression from a large study in Denmark. In the study, researchers reviewed 10 years worth of national data from the extensive population records capped in Denmark which provides nearly universal access to …

Psychotherapy for Depression – New Data

Peter ForsterTreatments of Depression

Many reviews have pointed out that there is a significant “publication bias” that affects studies of antidepressants: because studies that don’t find an effect tend not to be published a review of the published literature would suggest that these medications are more effective than they really are. Indeed this is been the basis of a great debate in the popular and …