Major Depressive Disorder

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SCREENING/DIAGNOSIS AND THE FUTURE OF MDD TREATMENT

Major Depressive Disorder Clinical Update

Major depressive disorder is a serious mood disorder that is improved with the right treatment. Depression often runs in families and is diagnosed after a psychiatric examination and medical history analysis, which are usually performed by a mental health professional.

Featured

Pop Quiz

Augmentation Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder

04/12/2024

Augmentation strategies are typically implemented when remission of major depressive disorder is not achieved. Which agents are effective augmentation therapies? Test your knowledge with our quiz!

04/12/2024

Poll

Screening for Depression, Anxiety in Patients With Psoriatic Arthritis

04/09/2024

According to the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), mood disorders are a key comorbidity in patients with psoriatic arthritis. How often do you screen for...

04/09/2024

Research Summary

Low Prevalence of Depression in Children from 2004 to 2019

01/18/2024

Jessica Ganga

Researchers evaluated the prevalence of depression disorders in pediatric patients to determine if there is a mental health impact on this age group.

01/18/2024

Interactive Features

Pop Quiz

Augmentation Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder

04/12/2024

Augmentation strategies are typically implemented when remission of major depressive disorder is not achieved. Which agents are effective augmentation therapies? Test your knowledge with our quiz!

04/12/2024

Poll

Screening for Depression, Anxiety in Patients With Psoriatic Arthritis

04/09/2024

Poll

Electroconvulsive Therapy vs Ketamine to Treat Major Depressive Episode

01/01/2024

Researchers found that the use of electroconvulsive therapy may be a potentially better option in treating patients with major depressive episodes than ketamine. Share your opinion by answering this poll. ...

01/01/2024

Pop Quiz

Youth Risk Behavior Survey Reveals Percentage of Female Adolescents Feeling Persistent Sadness

11/12/2023

The CDC’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey was given to more than 17,000 adolescents at high schools across the United States in the fall of 2021. Do you know which way the percentage of female adolescents...

11/12/2023

Pop Quiz

Pop Quiz

Treatment Options for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

09/28/2023

This pop quiz is based on the session titled “Evolving Management Strategies in Major Depressive Disorder: Smarter Choices After Unsuccessful First-Line Treatment” by Vladimir Maletic, MD, MS, et al. at...

09/28/2023

Clinical Insights

Video

Pupillary Light Reflex as a Pre-Treatment Biomarker For Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with MDD

01/10/2024

Andrew F. Leuchter, MD

In this video, Andrew F. Leuchter, MD, discusses his team’s study that examined pupillary light reflex (PLR) as a pre-treatment biomarker for repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in patients...

01/10/2024

Podcast

The Challenges of Diagnosing a Patient With Bipolar Disorder

10/16/2023

In part 1 of this 2-part episode, W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTH, speaks about diagnosing patients with bipolar disorder, other disorders commonly confused with bipolar disorder, and the risk factors and the...

10/16/2023

Conference Coverage

Conference Coverage

Wrap-Up: Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health

09/27/2023

In this video, Josh Hamilton, APRN-BC, CTMH, CLNC, CNE, provides an overview of the session “Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health” at our Practical Updates in Primary Care...

09/27/2023

Conference Coverage

Measurement-Based Care in Major Depressive Disorder

08/17/2023

In this video, Saundra Jain, MA, PsyD, LPC, and Manish K. Jha, MBBS, speak about their session at Psych Congress 2022 titled “Measurement-Based Care in Depression and Beyond: What is it and how to make it...

08/17/2023

Conference Coverage

Preview: Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health

07/13/2023

In this video, Josh Hamilton, APRN-BC, CTMH, CLNC, CNE, provides a preview of the session “Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health” at our Practical Updates in Primary Care...

07/13/2023

Major Depressive Disorder Snapshot

For more mental health content, visit the Resource Center

For a period of at least 2 weeks, an individual maintains a depressed mood, which may involve feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of energy, poor concentration, appetite changes, agitation, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts.

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clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, primary care physicians, emergency medicine, social workers

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One must have at least 5 symptoms from this list: depressed mood, inability to experience pleasure, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of energy, poor concentration, appetite changes, agitation, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts

For more perspective on major depression disorder, visit the Clinical Insights page

(continued) From that list, one of the symptoms must be a depressed mood or inability to experience pleasure in order to be diagnosed with MDD.

Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559078/

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The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9): Used to quantify severity and assist in diagnosis of depression symptoms. PHQ-9 scores each of the DSM criteria of MDD as “0” (not at all) to “3” (nearly every day), providing a 0-27 severity score.

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Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D): clinician-administered depression rating scale commonly used to measure depression in adults. Of the 21 items on the scale, only the first 17 are used for scoring.

For more perspective from leaders in psychology, visit the Clinical Insights page

(continued) Other tests include: Beck Depression Inventory, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale

For more primary care content, visit the Resource Center

In 2021, an estimated 21 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode, representing an estimated 8.3% of all U.S. adults.

for more public health content, visit the Resource Center

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all adults—including those pregnant and postpartum—be screened for depression.

For more pediatrics content, visit the Resource Center

The percentage of female high school students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021 was 57%, a record level and double the rate of males.

Research Summaries

Research Summary

Low Prevalence of Depression in Children from 2004 to 2019

01/18/2024

Jessica Ganga

Researchers evaluated the prevalence of depression disorders in pediatric patients to determine if there is a mental health impact on this age group.

01/18/2024

Research Summary

Research Summary

Association of Major Depression With Oral Contraceptive Pill Use

01/03/2024

Jessica Ganga

A team of researchers evaluated the connection between oral contraceptive pill use and the prevalence of major depression in women.

01/03/2024

Research summary

Research summary

USPSTF Recommendations on Screening for MDD, Suicide Risk in Adults

07/28/2023

Jessica Ganga

The USPSTF has updated its recommendations on screening adults for major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicide risk.

07/28/2023

Research Summary

ACP Updates MDD Treatment Guidelines

02/15/2023

The American College of Physicians updated its recommendations on pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment options for adults with major depressive disorder.

02/15/2023

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive Therapy Potentially a Better Option in Treating Major Depressive Episodes Than Ketamine

01/05/2023

Researchers conducted a systematic review to compare the treatment efficacy and safety of ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy.

01/05/2023

March 2024

Current Issue

March 2024

Volume 64

Issue 3

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559078/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13.
https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/Hamilton%20Rating%20Scale%20for%20Depression%20(HAM-D).pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth behavior risk survey: data summary and trends report. Accessed March 31, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/yrbs_data_summary_and_trends.htm