Science News about Depression

NIH Study Shows People with Serious Mental Illnesses Can Lose Weight

Press Release • March 21, 2013

Losing weight is challenging for everyone. It can be particularly difficult for someone with a serious mental illness. An NIMH-funded clinical study proves that a modified diet and exercise program can work for people with serious mental illnesses. Participants lost 7 pounds more than controls—and continued to lose weight.

Five Major Mental Disorders Share Genetic Roots

Science Update • March 01, 2013

Five major mental disorders share some of the same genetic risk factors, the largest genome-wide study of its kind has found.

Imaging Biomarker Predicts Response to Rapid Antidepressant

Press Release • February 04, 2013

A boost of activity in visual cortex at the back of the brain, triggered by the processing of emotional information, predicted depressed patients’ responses to a rapid-acting antidepressant.

Stress-Resilience/Susceptibility Traced to Neurons in Reward Circuit

Press Release • December 12, 2012

Researchers, for the first time, have instantly switched depression-like states on-and-off in mice by tweaking the firing pattern of neurons in the brain’s reward circuit.

Experimental Agent Briefly Eases Depression Rapidly in Test

Press Release • December 11, 2012

Ketamine-like agent lifts depression briefly in treatment-resistant patients, with few side effects.

Genetic Switch Involved in Depression

Science Update • September 19, 2012

Researchers have discovered a gene regulator that is over-expressed in brains of both depressed patients and rats that show depression-like behaviors. Boosting expression of the regulator, Gata1, decreased expression of genes that code for the connections between neurons in rats’ thinking and feeling circuitry, as well as the number of such synapses.

Brain Signal ID’s Responders to Fast-Acting Antidepressant

Press Release • August 03, 2012

Biomarkers identified in research on a fast-acting antidepressant can signal who will respond to the medication and are providing clues to how it works to lift depression.

Pattern Recognition Technology May Help Predict Future Mental Illness in Teens

Science Update • April 02, 2012

Computer programs that automatically spot patterns in data may help predict a person’s risk for future mental disorders.

Ethnic Disparities Persist in Depression Diagnosis and Treatment Among Older Americans

Science Update • January 26, 2012

Older racial and ethnic minorities living in the community are less likely to be diagnosed with depression than their white counterparts, but are also less likely to get treated, according to a recent NIMH-funded analysis published online ahead of print December 15, 2011, in the American Journal of Public Health.

Interventions Show Promise in Treating Depression Among Preschoolers

Science Update • November 17, 2011

A new psychosocial approach shows promise in helping preschoolers with symptoms of depression function better and learn to regulate their emotions, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print October 31, 2011, in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Brain Chemical Linked to Joylessness Provides Insight Into Teen Depression

Science Update • October 06, 2011

Depressed teens with anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure, have lower levels of the neurotransmitter GABA in a key mood-regulating region of the brain, according to an NIMH-funded study published online October 3, in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

New Neurons in Adult Brain Buffer Stress

Science Update • August 16, 2011

New neurons growing in the adult brain help buffer the effects of stress, according to a new study in mice.

For Minor Depression, Study Shows No Benefit Over Placebo from St. John’s Wort, Citalopram

Science Update • July 22, 2011

An extract of the herb St. John's Wort and a standard antidepressant medication both failed to outdo a placebo in relieving symptoms of minor depression in a clinical trial comparing the three. The results of this study, consistent with earlier research, do not in support the use of medications for mild depression.

Drug Boosts Growth Factor to Jump-start Rapid Antidepressant Response

Press Release • June 22, 2011

A study in mice has pinpointed a pivotal new player in triggering the rapid antidepressant response produced by ketamine. By deactivating a little-known enzyme, the drug takes the brakes off rapid synthesis of a key growth factor thought to lift depression, say researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Stress-Defeating Effects of Exercise Traced to Emotional Brain Circuit

Science Update • June 09, 2011

Evidence in both humans and animals points to emotional benefits from exercise, both physical and mental. Now, in recent experiments with mice, scientists have traced the stress-buffering effect of activity to a brain circuit known to be involved in emotional regulation as well as mood disorders and medication effects. The finding is a clue to understanding the neurological roots of resilience, key to developing new means of prevention and treatment for stress-related illness.

Combination Antidepressant Therapy May Not Improve Odds of Remission Among Chronically Depressed

Science Update • May 03, 2011

A combination of two antidepressants may not be any more effective in treating chronic major depression than a single antidepressant, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print May 2, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Study Reveals New Clues to How Depression May Develop

Science Update • April 20, 2011

Activating neurons in a brain structure linked to disappointment increased depression-like behaviors in rats, while suppressing the neurons’ activity reduced the behaviors, according to an NIMH-funded study. The findings help to explain previous research linking this brain structure to depression in humans and highlight a cellular process that hadn’t been previously explored in mood disorders research. The study was published in the February 24, 2011, issue of Nature.

Depressed Teens with History of Abuse Less Likely to Respond to Combination Treatment

Science Update • April 04, 2011

Adolescents with treatment-resistant depression who have a history of abuse—especially physical abuse—are less likely to respond to combination treatment than to medication alone, according to data from the NIMH-funded Treatment of Resistant Depression in Adolescents (TORDIA) study. The new study was published in the March 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Nurturing Newborn Neurons Sharpens Minds in Mice

Press Release • April 04, 2011

Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences – an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders. Boosting such neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus also produced antidepressant-like effects when combined with exercise, in the study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Case-managed Care Improves Outcomes for Depressed Patients with Multiple Medical Conditions

Science Update • December 30, 2010

People with diabetes or heart disease plus depression fare better if their medical care is coordinated by a care manager who also educates patients about their condition and provides motivational support, compared to those who receive care from their primary care physician only, according to an NIMH-funded study published December 30, 2010, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Teens Who Recover from Hard-to-treat Depression Still at Risk for Relapse

Science Update • December 03, 2010

Teens with hard-to-treat depression who reach remission after 24 weeks of treatment are still at a significant risk for relapse, according to long-term, follow-up data from an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print November 16, 2010, in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The long-term data reiterate the need for aggressive treatment decisions for teens with stubborn depression.

Rapid Antidepressant Works by Boosting Brain’s Connections 

Science Update • September 09, 2010

An experimental drug that lifts depression in hours likely works by rapidly stimulating connections between brain cells, a study in rats has revealed. The drug, called ketamine, quickly generated such synapses in a brain circuit implicated in human depression by triggering a key enzyme.

Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder May Go Undiagnosed in Some Adults with Major Depression

Science Update • August 16, 2010

Nearly 40 percent of people with major depression may also have subthreshold hypomania, a form of mania that does not fully meet current diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder, according to a new NIMH-funded study. The study was published online ahead of print August 15, 2010, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Stress Hormone Receptors Less Adaptive in Female Brain 

Science Update • August 09, 2010

A study in rats has revealed striking gender difference in the brain’s stress response that could shed light on women’s proneness to mood and anxiety disorders. Female rat brain cells were more sensitive to a key stress hormone than males’, which could adapt to the hormone in a way female cells couldn’t.

Study Shows Possibilities for Predicting How Patients Will Respond to Antidepressants

Science Update • July 22, 2010

In a study of an experimental treatment for major depression, pretreatment testing to probe the function of a specific brain center predicted how patients would respond to ketamine, a medication that can lift depression rapidly in some people.

Effects on Personality May Be Mechanism of Antidepressant Effectiveness

Science Update • July 16, 2010

Results of a study of antidepressant treatment for major depression suggest that changes in personality traits seen in patients taking the drug paroxetine (Paxil) may not be the result of the medication’s lifting of mood but may instead be a direct effect of this class of drugs and part of the mechanism by which they relieve depression.

Early Treatment Decisions Crucial for Teens with Treatment-resistant Depression

Science Update • May 26, 2010

An early response to second-course treatment is associated with greater likelihood of remission among teens with hard-to-treat depression, according to recent data from an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print May 17, 2010, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Resilience Factor Low in Depression, Protects Mice From Stress  

Press Release • May 17, 2010

Scientists have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain resilience to stress, vulnerability to depression and how antidepressants work. The new findings, in the reward circuit of mouse and human brains, have spurred a high tech dragnet for compounds that boost the action of a key gene regulator there, called deltaFosB. Triggering deltaFosB, which is depleted in post-mortem brains of depressed patients, protected mice from developing a depression-like syndrome following chronic social stress.

Rapid Antidepressant Action of Common Medication Confirmed by Repeat Trial 

Science Update • May 04, 2010

Confirming results from earlier research, a clinical trial of treatment for major depression showed that the medication scopolamine, commonly used for motion sickness and as a sedative, could lift symptoms of depression within days, far faster than current antidepressants. Though the study was small, the magnitude of scopolamine’s effects in comparison with placebo suggests that this class of medications has potential for rapid treatment of depression.

Magnetic Stimulation Scores Modest Success as Antidepressant 

Press Release • May 03, 2010

Some depressed patients who don’t respond to or tolerate antidepressant medications may benefit from a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain with a pulsing electromagnet, a study suggests. This first industry-independent, multi-site, randomized, tightly controlled trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) found that it produced significant antidepressant effects in a subgroup of patients, with few side effects.