Depression

A meta-analysis of the Omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) as therapeutic supplement for major depression followed the above study online September 6 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

An initiative from the BRIDGE study group has determined that approximately half of patients presenting with a depressive episode are mistakenly diagnosed with unipolar major depression.

What is associated with increased suicidal risk in soldiers? In what group is the incidence of postpartum depression highest? These questions and more in this quiz.

The first week in October. Leaves fall. Kids start school. Temperatures descend. Weather fluctuates. Stigma decreases. Awareness rises-with the help of the 21st anniversary of NAMI's Mental Illness Awareness Week.

A meta-analysis of depression and risk of stroke finds a positive association. How will this information affect your practice?

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, or antidepressants can be effective treatments for major depression-despite their minimal separation from placebo/control therapies in clinical trials. This article argues that their specific efficacy has not been established.

Newly developed blood tests for schizophrenia and for depression designed to augment current diagnostic approaches have attracted increased attention at recent major scientific meetings.

Treatment resistance in bipolar disorder is clinically familiar but lacks a standard definition. Numerous evidence-based treatments exist for all phases of bipolar disorder, and these should be optimized and fully explored.

For women with metastatic or recurrent breast cancer, reductions in depression symptoms over the first year of a randomized controlled trial predicted longer survival times.

The majority of the literature focuses on prenatal and postnatal depression in mothers, and little attention has been given to the incidence of prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers.

Depression and alcoholism treatment requires the proper use of medication and psychosocial interventions, as well as a solid doctor-patient relationship and a commitment to treat both disorders.

A large-scale, systematic depression screening of adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) conducted by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California produced some unexpected result. Even those with negative depression screens benefitted.

The evidence-based approach to bipolar depression symptoms includes treatment with lithium, conventional unimodal antidepressants, lamotrigine, or divalproex.

The statement, “It’s okay, you can try again,” is even less useful advice to a grieving mother than originally thought.

Critics have noted that meta-analysis, when misused, resembles statistical alchemy, taking the dross of individually negative studies to produce the gold of a positive pooled result.

Patients’ stories (both content and structure) contain more therapeutically useful information than merely identifying and counting symptoms.

Are there any recent sources talking about the use of buprenorphine (low dose) for people who were never drug addicts or abusers but who were diagnosed with treatment resistant depression?

For some patients with MDD, there are indeed “remembered gifts” that are appreciated on recovery from their depression. But this is not to say that MDD itself is “adaptive” during the course of the patient’s illness.

The following is a transcript of a podcast by Dr James Lake.

Since the 1980s, there have been growing concerns that chronic cholesterol depletion may actually increase noncardiovascular deaths by suicide and violence-related deaths.

Clearly, we all share the goals of respecting-not “medicalizing”-ordinary grief; as well as recognizing and treating clinically significant depression. We differ with Dr Frances in how to achieve these goals, while remaining faithful to the best available scientific data.

In his ongoing critique of the DSM-5 process, Dr Allen Frances started a brushfire recently in challenging the DSM-5 Mood Disorders Work Group proposal to remove the bereavement exclusion from the diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode. Here’s a summary of the debate.

We can take one further step toward finding common ground in my ongoing debate with Drs Pies and Zisook.

There are very real concerns about the miners’ mental well-being. Chile’s Health Minister reported that five of the men were not eating properly and refused to be filmed. In the meantime, a team of nutritionists and psychologists have been assembled to monitor their physical and mental states.

Which antidepressants are associated with the highest rates of sexual dysfunction in patients treated for depression? This and more in this week's quiz.