Category Archives: Depression

April Meeting – Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

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21st Century Interventions for Mental Illness:
rTMS, MeRT and IV Ketamine

Presenter: Dr. Martha B. Koo, M.D.
Monday, April 19 | 7:30 PM (virtual meeting)

Dr. Koo is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst double Board Certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. A pioneer in the development and application of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Dr. Koo is the founder and CEO of Neuro Wellness Spa, where she offers TMS, Magnetic E-Resonance therapy, IV ketamine, IV nutrition, and photobiomodulation as novel interventions for treatment-resistant mental illness. She is also the Medical Director at Clear Recovery Center and serves on the Board of Directors of the Clinical TMS Society and the Beach Cities Health District.

Monthly Meeting — Major Depression

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Image Credit: Pixabay

June General Meeting is at 7:30 PM Monday, June 18, 2018.

The speaker for our General Meeting will be psychiatrist Dr. Lynn Yen MD from Harbor UCLA Dept of Psychiatry. She will be continuing our series on the major mental illnesses and will be speaking about Major Depression as a mental illness, medications, recent developments and will be answering questions. Depression is the leading form of disability in the world and the most frequent type of mental illness. So it will be a great time to ask the doctor about this illness.

Our general meeting will be in Faith Hall at the First Lutheran Church 2900 Carson in Torrance. Our Family Support Group will meet at 6 PM in the small room off of Faith Hall.

Open Mind Community Lecture — The Upword Spiral

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From the Friends of the Semel Institute: A free presentation by Alex Korb, Ph.D., UCLA neuroscientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Tuesday evening, March 7, 2017.

Depression can feel like a downward spiral, pulling you into a vortex of sadness, fatigue, and apathy. In “The Upward Spiral”, Dr. Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, Dr. Korb provides dozens of straightforward tips you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life.

As a neuroscientist Dr. Korb has published over a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles on depression, neuromodulation and other topics. He is the author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, and has studied the brain for over 15 years. He also writes a popular blog for Psychology Today called PreFrontal Nudity: Your Brain Exposed. Outside of the lab he is head coach of the UCLA Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, and he has a wealth of experience in yoga and mindfulness, physical fitness, and even stand-up comedy.

Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. will join Dr. Korb in discussion following the presentation. Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, which offers online learning and in-person lectures that focus on how the development of mindsight in individuals, families, and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Tuesday, March 7
Semel Auditorium, UCLA
Check-in 6:30 PM   |   Program 7:00 PM
Admission is free but reservations are required.
Parking is available for $12 in Structure 9

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

For questions email Wendy Kelman at wkelman@mednet.ucla.edu

A Good Resource for News about Bipolar and Related Disorders

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There are many groups and organizations other than NAMI that share information about mental illnesses and do their part to help raise awareness, end stigma and address, with clear vision, the real issues mental illnesses raise. One group that provides free updates in the form of a newsletter to anyone that requests it is Bipolar Network News (BNN). BNN is a newsletter publisher and online clearinghouse of information about mood disorders, and a quarterly print and email publication.

BNN regularly provides updates on the latest research about bipolar disorder in the hope of shedding light on emerging trends in research and treatment to help educate patients, family members, interested laypeople, physicians, and other field professionals. The newsletter is available free of charge to all who request it. You can visit BNN’s website and request an email subscription by CLICKING HERE, or request a postal subscription HERE.

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Studying a Correlation Between Depressive Symptoms and Stroke Risk

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From Psychiatric News Alert: Persistent symptoms of depression in adults ages 50 and older may double their risk for stroke, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A possible connection between depressive symptoms and stroke risk

A possible connection between depressive symptoms and stroke risk

Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed medical records of more than 16,000 older adults who participated in the Health and Retirement Study, which included interviews about depressive symptoms, history of stroke, and stroke risks factors.

Nearly 2,000 strokes were reported, and individuals displaying high levels of depressive symptoms during two consecutive interviews were more than twice as likely to experience a stroke during the subsequent two years. Even people who had depressive symptoms at the first interview but not the second showed a 66% higher stroke risk.

Said lead author Paola Gilsanz, Sc.D, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard, in a press release:

“This is the first study evaluating how changes in depressive symptoms predict changes in stroke risk. If replicated, these findings suggest that clinicians should seek to identify and treat depressive symptoms as close to onset as possible, before harmful effects on stroke risk start to accumulate.”

To read more about the relationship between depression and stroke, see the Psychiatric News article “Collaborative Care for Depression Can Reduce Risk for Heart Attacks, Strokes.”

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Scientists Identify Molecular Marker of Major Depression

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DNA structureFrom Psychiatric News Alert: Increased amounts of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) may serve as a molecular marker of major depression, according to a study published today inCurrent Biology.

Sequencing of two components of the genome suspected to be associated with adverse life experiences revealed a significant association between major depression and the amount of mtDNA.

“We could find no evidence that stressful life events act via changes in mtDNA or telomere length to increase the risk of major depression. These findings identify increased amounts of mtDNA as a molecular marker of major depression and have important implications for understanding how stress causes the disease.” the authors concluded.

Jonathan Flint, a professor of molecular psychiatry at the University of Oxford and senior author on the paper, stated in a press release:

“We have only a snapshot of the relationship between the molecular markers and depression. We want to know how they change over time—before, during, and after a depressive illness. That information will tell us much about their clinical utility.”

To read more on biomarkers for depression, see the Psychiatric News article “Scientists Closer to Finding Tests for DepressionBiomarkers.”

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Study Finds Depression Subtype May Not Be Relevant in Selecting Treatment

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From Psychiatric News Alert: There may be no preferential antidepressant pharmacotherapy for treating subtypes of major depressive disorder (MDD), according to a study published online in AJP in Advance, “Depression Subtypes in Predicting Antidepressant Response: A Report From the iSPOT-D Trial.”

oweirieoeA. John Rush, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, and colleagues conducted a study with 1,008 individuals with MDD to assess the proportions of participants who met at least one criteria for MDD subtype—melancholic, atypical, and anxious depression—and compared subtype profiles on remission and change in depressive symptoms after eight weeks of treatment with escitalopram, sertraline, or extended-release venlafaxine. Improvement of symptoms and likelihood of remission were quantified by the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomology-Self Report.

The researchers found that 39 percent of the studied individuals exhibited at least one pure form of a depressive subtype, with atypical subtype being the most prevalent at 15 percent. Approximately 36 percent of the participants met criteria for more than one subtype. As it relates to antidepressant treatment, the results showed that participants in all subtype groups exhibited a similar statistically significant reduction in symptoms and did not differ in the likelihood to remit.

“Whether pure or mixed, subtypes were not differentially predictive of overall acute treatment outcomes or differentially predictive of efficacy among the three antidepressant medications,” the researchers concluded. “If replicated, these findings would suggest that the clinical utility of these subtypes in treatment selection is minimal.”

The iSPOT-D trial (International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment – in Depression) is the largest personalized medicine research study in mental health.

To read more about treatments for major depressive disorder, see the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Eighth Edition, by Alan Schatzberg, M.D., and Charles DeBattista, M.D., D.M.H., from American Psychiatric Publishing.

Image Credit: MorgueFile