Things are looking up for people with
depression. In my previous blog on tests for depression this came to
light - if depression could be detected via a blood test or urine
test, it would clearly be in the realm of ‘medical illness’ and
therefore a real problem that is not due to individual weakness or
other equally stigmatizing reasons. Now we have a blood test for
diagnosing severe or major depression and it has been developed by
Northwestern Medicine® scientists.
This they claim is a breakthrough that
provides the first objective, scientific diagnosis for depression.
Apparently, they have not followed the information from my blog link
above. The test identifies depression by measuring the levels of
nine RNA blood markers. RNA molecules are the messengers that
interpret the DNA genetic code and carry out its instructions.
Besides helping diagnosis of
depression, the blood test will also predict who will benefit from
cognitive behavioral therapy based on the behavior of some of the
markers. Individualized therapy for people with depression will
become more effective and individualized.
The research also showed that the test
showed the biological effects of cognitive behavioral therapy, the
first measurable, blood-based evidence of the therapy’s success.
The levels of markers changed in patients who had the therapy for 18
weeks and were no longer depressed.
Eva Redei, co-lead author of the study,
had previously developed a blood test that diagnosed depression in
adolescents. Most of the markers she identified in the adult
depression panel are different from those in depressed adolescents.
Redei developed the test and is a professor of psychiatry and
behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine.
Co-lead author David Mohr, a professor
of preventive medicine and director of the Center for Behavioral
Intervention Technologies at Feinberg says, “This study brings us
much closer to having laboratory tests that can be used in diagnosis
and treatment selection.”
The current method of diagnosing
depression is subjective and based on non-specific symptoms such as
poor mood, fatigue, and change in appetite, all of which can apply to
a large number of mental or physical problems. A diagnosis also
relies on the patient’s ability to report his symptoms and the
physician’s ability to interpret them. But depressed patients
frequently under report or inadequately describe their symptoms.
Eva Redei says, “This test brings
mental health diagnosis into the 21st century and offers the first
personalized medicine approach to people suffering from depression.”
It is time for science to catch up with
all forms of depression and provide scientific evidence to blunt the
stigmatism often attached to depression.
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