Depression Treatment: Ketamin for the Treatment of Depression.

Ketamin for the treatment of depression.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2013 Jan; 51(1): 11-4
Howland RH

Ketamine (Ketalar®) is an anesthetic agent derived from the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine (PCP). It is a high-affinity antagonist at N-methyl-0-aspartate receptors and also binds to opioid mu and sigma receptors.Ketamine is being intensively investigated as an antidepressant therapy.To date, five short-term controlled studies and other open-label studies in patients with unipolar or bipolar depression have demonstrated that intravenous ketamine is safe and has a rapid and profound short-term effect on depressive symptoms, including suicidal thoughts, even among patients considered treatment-resistant to standard medications or electroconvulsive therapy. Before ketamine can be incorporated into clinical practice, however, its longterm safety and effectiveness need to be evaluated. Although the effectiveness of alternative routes of ketamine administration (i.e., oral, intranasal,or intramuscular) needs to be determined,intravenous ketamine could be conceptualized as a clinic-based procedural therapy for treatment resistant forms of depression.
HubMed – depression

Varicella Zoster Virus-Specific Immune Responses to a Herpes Zoster Vaccine in Elderly Recipients With Major Depression and the Impact of Antidepressant Medications.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Clin Infect Dis. 2013 Feb 13;
Irwin MR, Levin MJ, Laudenslager ML, Olmstead R, Lucko A, Lang N, Carrillo C, Stanley HA, Caulfield MJ, Weinberg A, Chan IS, Clair J, Smith JG, Marchese RD, Williams HM, Beck DJ, McCook PT, Zhang JH, Johnson G, Oxman MN

Background.?The Depression Substudy of the Shingles Prevention Study (SPS) was designed to evaluate the association between major depression and immune responses to a high-titer live attenuated varicella zoster virus (VZV) vaccine (zoster vaccine), which boosts cell-mediated immunity (CMI) to VZV and decreases the incidence and severity of herpes zoster (HZ). The Depression Substudy was a 2-year longitudinal cohort study in 92 community-dwelling adults ?60 years of age who were enrolled in the SPS, a large, double-blind, placebo-controlled Veterans Affairs Cooperative zoster vaccine efficacy study.Methods.?Forty subjects with major depressive disorder, stratified by use of antidepressant medications, and 52 age- and sex-matched controls with no history of depression or other mental illness had their VZV-CMI measured prior to vaccination with zoster vaccine or placebo and at 6 weeks, 1 year, and 2 years postvaccination.Results.?Depressed subjects who were not treated with antidepressant medications had lower levels of VZV-CMI following administration of zoster vaccine than nondepressed controls or depressed subjects receiving antidepressants even when antidepressant medications failed to alter depressive symptom severity (P < .005). Similar results were obtained taking into account the time-varying status of depression and use of antidepressant medications, as well as changes in depressive symptoms, during the postvaccination period.Conclusions.?Depressed patients have diminished VZV-CMI responses to zoster vaccine, and treatment with antidepressant medication is associated with normalization of these responses. Because higher levels of VZV-CMI correlate with lower risk and severity of HZ, untreated depression may increase the risk and severity of HZ and reduce the efficacy of zoster vaccine. HubMed – depression

Symptom overlap in anxiety and multiple sclerosis.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Mult Scler. 2013 Feb 14;
O Donnchadha S, Burke T, Bramham J, O’Brien MC, Whelan R, Reilly R, Kiiski H, Lonergan R, Kinsella K, Kelly S, McGuigan C, Hutchinson M, Tubridy N

BACKGROUND: The validity of self-rated anxiety inventories in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) is unclear. However, the appropriateness of self-reported depression scales has been widely examined. Given somatic symptom overlap between depression and MS, research emphasises caution when using such scales. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates symptom overlap between anxiety and MS in a group of 33 individuals with MS, using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). METHODS: Participants underwent a neurological examination and completed the BAI. RESULTS: A novel procedure using hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three distinct symptom clusters. Cluster one (‘wobbliness’ and ‘unsteady’) grouped separately from all other BAI items. These symptoms are well-recognised MS-related symptoms and we question whether their endorsement in pwMS can be considered to reflect anxiety. A modified 19-item BAI (mBAI) was created which excludes cluster one items. This removal reduced the number of MS participants considered ‘anxious’ by 21.21% (low threshold) and altered the level of anxiety severity for a further 27.27%. CONCLUSION: Based on these data, it is suggested that, as with depression measures, researchers and clinicians should exercise caution when using brief screening measures for anxiety in pwMS.
HubMed – depression

Ketamine Can Rapidly Help Depression, Study Shows – Scientists say the discovery of ketamine to treat depression is arguably the most important discovery in depression research in 50 years.

Anxiety + Depression: Effective Treatment of the Big Two Co-Occurring Disorders

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