Harvard is looking for a quick and effective treatment for depression

The first attempt at antidepressant therapy begins to work after 12–14 weeks.

Two Harvard scientists are exploring better and faster ways to speed up the journey from diagnosis to effective medication for patients with depression.

These people need to manage their condition and have a supply of medication on hand to protect them from possible deterioration in their mental health. Treatment or treatments depend on the patient’s needs, preferences, and medical situation.

The choice is not easy. Often these people must try one or more medications to find out which one is right for them, whether it relieves symptoms, and does not cause side effects that cause discomfort or compromise their physical or emotional stability.

David Walt is the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioengineering and Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It works at the microscopic level, observing cellular abnormalities that may contribute to depression.

Walt is also a pioneer in the use of microwell arrays for single-molecule detection and genetic measurements. A revolutionary genetic and proteomic analysis process that reduces the cost of DNA sequencing and genotyping.

While Diego Pizzagalli, a Swiss neuroscientist, uses magnetic resonance imaging and other techniques to identify potential treatments by tracking activity in key areas of the brain. Pizzagalli is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, founding director of the Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, and director of the McLean Imaging Center in Massachusetts.

The goal is to speed up the step between diagnosis and treatment for patients with depression. The research is supported by the non-profit organization Wellcome Leap.

Proper treatment for depression

More than 22 million American adults experience at least one major depressive episode each year. It is a lonely, exhausting and dangerous experience. As anxiety, insomnia, and other symptoms worsen, patients lose contact with family and friends.

Feeling isolated destroys one of the greatest sources of happiness and well-being (relationships) and increases the risk of suicide..

The damage also affects society as a whole, including American jobs, creating an economic burden of more than $330 billion annually.

“We’re concerned that when people resort to this trial and error method (to find the right drug), they lose hope,” Pizzagalli said. Harvard newspaper. “We’re interested in assessing whether, using neuroscience tools, we can find the right treatment faster.”

It takes 12 to 14 weeks for the first attempt at antidepressant therapy to become effective. And it only works in about a third of patients. Studies show variable success with subsequent courses of treatment. Only 40% of patients manage to find the right medicine for them on the fourth try.

Talk therapy can help, and new technologies, including neurostimulation, have shown promise. More ketamine. But one of the most common treatments for depression—selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, often prescribed by primary care doctors—has had mixed results.

Partially due to the extremely inaccurate matchmaking process.

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