A new research study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco has found patients with moderate to severe depression reported significant improvements in mood when researchers precisely stimulated a brain region, namely, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The direct electrical stimulation of the affected regions of the brain has previously proven to be an... Continue Reading →
Three Shades of Depression…
Researchers from the Neural Computational Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in collaboration with their colleagues at Nara Institute of Science and Technology and clinicians at Hiroshima University have for the first time identified three sub-types of depression. Of the three sub-types of depression, one appeared to be untreatable by... Continue Reading →
Cognitive psycho-educational group therapy intervention found to lower relapse rate in depression…
A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, has found patients hospitalized with major depressive disorder who participated in a short-term psycho-educational program with cognitive behavioral group therapy in addition to normal inpatient treatment had a lower re-hospitalization rate during a 2-year follow-up period. This advocates the prominence of cognitive therapy as a treatment of major depression disorder. The... Continue Reading →
Early-life exposure to severe famine found to be related to subsequent risk of depressive symptoms in late adulthood…
A research study from the University of Georgia has revealed that exposure to famine during specific moments in early life is associated with depression later in life. The study with aimed to estimate the burden of depressive symptoms and the association of famine exposure with depressive symptoms found that famine contributed to 13.6% of the depressive... Continue Reading →
ELK-1 as a specific signalling module in depression…
In a study published by the Nature Medicine (link below), a team of scientists at McGill University and France’s Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) examined the biological and molecular mechanisms at play in neurons during treatment with a classical antidepressant. The extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is implicated in... Continue Reading →
Behavioral Activation found to benefit during TMS for Major Depressive Disorder
The integration of behavioral activation therapy (a form of psychotherapy that supports environmental positive reinforcement for individuals through goal setting and the scheduling of positive reinforcement between-session activities) into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been shown to be a feasible, well-tolerated, and has led to a significant reduction in the symptoms of major depressive disorder,... Continue Reading →
Cognitive dysfunction predictors of depression after first-episode…
Recent research suggests patients suffering from depression should also receive cognitive testing as cognitive impairments were associated with the severity of depressive symptoms. The study found that impairments in executive functioning and language ability in particular predicted the severity of depressive symptoms after 12 months. Link to research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X18300427
The role of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 in major depressive disorder: a twelve-week treatment with duloxetine..
Evidence has indicated elevated concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines are associated with major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment response, but the nature of this association remains unclear. A sample of 32 medication-free participants with a major depressive episode (age 38.5 years) and age, gender, ethnicity and IQ matched 24 healthy controls (age 40.6 years) were examined.... Continue Reading →
Study shows 1 in 3 of those diagnosed with depression commence treatment…
A study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine highlights that only about 1 in 3 individuals newly diagnosed with depression actually commence treatment. The study has found, of more than 240,000 patients who received a new diagnosis of depression in a primary care setting, only 35.7 percent initiated antidepressant medication or psychotherapy within 90 days... Continue Reading →