The experience of treatment-resistant depression: we need to rethink treatment for people who do not respond to antidepressants

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Amelia Talbot summarises a qualitative meta-synthesis exploring people’s experiences of living with ‘treatment-resistant’ depression.

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Long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression: not cost-effective compared to treatment as usual

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In her debut blog, Ella Tuominen considers the Tavistock Adult Depression Study (TADS), which evaluated the cost-effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression compared to treatment as usual.

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Psilocybin for ‘treatment-resistant depression’: an island of hope in an ocean of uncertainty?

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In this blog, UCL MSc students consider an RCT published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which suggests that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may help reduce depression in people with severe and enduring illness, but side effects are common and more research is needed to look into longer term effects.

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Deep brain stimulation may improve long-term quality of life for people with ‘treatment-resistant depression’

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Alex Pike and Jonathan Roiser appraise and summarise a recently study in the Brain Stimulation journal, which looks at the long-term efficacy and quality of life of deep brain stimulation for severe depression.

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Ketamine “shows promise” as an anti-suicidal ideation agent, but will this promise ever be realised?

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Rosalind McAlpine and Karel Kieslich summarise a recent systematic review which focuses on the rapid anti-suicidal ideation effect of ketamine.

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Deep brain stimulation for severe depression: could ‘brain pacemakers’ be the answer for some?

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Alexandra Pike, Alexis An Yee Low and Jonathan Roiser critically appraise a recent n-of-1 study on ‘brain pacemakers for depression’, which received extensive press coverage earlier this month. The case study looks at deep brain stimulation (closed-loop neuromodulation) in an individual with treatment-resistant depression.

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Can ketamine metabolites and gamma power help predict clinical response for ‘treatment resistant depression’?

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Anya Borissova summarises a recent randomised placebo-controlled trial that evaluated ketamine metabolites, clinical response, and gamma power for major depression.

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Turn on, or tune out? Is psilocybin assisted therapy close to becoming a first-line treatment for depression?

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James Rucker and Sameer Jauhar summarise a recent RCT on the effectiveness of psilocybin assisted therapy versus escitalopram assisted therapy for major depressive disorder.

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Patients’ experience of ketamine treatment for depression: the ‘Ketamine and me’ project

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In her debut blog, Harmony Jiang reviews a recent qualitative study exploring patients’ experience and response to ketamine treatment for depression.

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Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: what are the effects on brain activity?

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Anya Borissova summarises the therapeutic mechanisms of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression and changes noticed in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex during emotional processing.

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