The possibility of using a blood test to detect depression has been demonstrated by researchers at MedUni in Vienna where they have now used functional resonance imaging of the brain and pharmacological investigations to demonstrate that there is a close relationship between the speed of serotonin uptake in blood platelets and the function of a depression network in the brain.

While blood tests for mental illness have until recently been regarded as impossible, the recent study clearly indicates that, in principle, depression can be in fact diagnosed in this way.