BACKGROUND: A single subanesthetic infusion of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine has rapid and potent antidepressant properties in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (TRD). As a family history of an alcohol use disorder is a positive predictor of ketamine's antidepressant response and the strength of the association increases over time, we hypothesized that...
Objective: It is imperative that research identifies factors related to depression among individuals in substance use treatment, as depression is associated with substance use relapse. Dispositional mindfulness and spirituality may bear an important role in the relationship between depression and substance use. Method: Using preexisting patient medical records (N = 105), the current study...
The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of an adapted 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for elders in a continuing care community. This mixed-methods study used both quantitative and qualitative measures. A randomized waitlist control design was used for the quantitative aspect of the study. Thirty-nine elderly were randomized to MBSR (n =...
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to effectively prevent relapse and reduce residual depressive symptoms (RDS), yet it faces barriers to dissemination. The present study examined Mindful Mood Balance (MMB), the first web-based approach to deliver the core content of MBCT. Of the 107 recurrently depressed individuals screened, 100 elected to enroll in the study and...
Few empirical studies have explored the associations between formal and informal mindfulness home practice and outcome in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). In this study ninety-nine participants randomised to MBCT in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial completed self-reported ratings of home practice over 7 treatment weeks. Recurrence of Major Depression was assessed...
OBJECTIVE: Patents with anxious bipolar disorder have worse clinical outcomes and are harder to treat with traditional medication regimens compared to those with non-anxious bipolar disorder. Ketamine has been shown to rapidly and robustly decrease symptoms of depression in depressed patients with bipolar disorder. We sought to determine whether baseline anxiety status reduced ketamine's...
INTRODUCTION: Anxiety, depression, and pain are major problems among veterans, despite the availability of standard medical options within the Veterans Health Administration. Complementary and alternative approaches for these symptoms have been shown to be appealing to veterans. One such complementary and alternative approach is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a brief course that...
BACKGROUND: At least 10-20% of the patients suffering from depression meet criteria for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In the last decades, an important role of glutamate in mood modulation has been hypothesized and ketamine, a non noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, has been demonstrated to be effective in both MDD and TRD. However, concerns emerged...
Objectives. To explore the association between meditation and health related quality of life (HRQOL), depression, fatigue, disability level, relapse rates, and disease activity in a large international sample of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods. Participants were invited to take part in an online survey and answer questions relating to HRQOL, depression, fatigue, disability, relapse...
BACKGROUND: The neural correlates of suicidal ideation and its reduction after treatment are unknown. We hypothesized that increased regional cerebral glucose metabolism in the infralimbic cortex (Brodmann area 25), amygdala, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex would be associated with suicidal ideation and its reduction after ketamine infusion. METHODS: Medication-free patients (n=19) with...
There has been an increasing focus on determining the psychological mechanisms underlying the broad effects of mindfulness on psychological health. Mindfulness has been posited to be related to the construct of reperceiving or decentering, defined as a shift in perspective associated with decreased attachment to one's thoughts and emotions. Decentering is proposed to be a meta-mechanism that...
ElifeOctober 23, 2014Oliver H Miller, Ling-Ling Yang, Chih-Chieh Wang et al.
A single, low dose of the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine produces rapid antidepressant actions in treatment-resistant depressed patients. Understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying this will lead to new therapies for treating major depression. NMDARs are heteromultimeric complexes formed through association of two GluN1 and two GluN2 subunits. We show that in vivo deletion of GluN2B,...
Background: Recently, the application of meditative practices to the treatment of depressive disorders has met with increasing clinical and scientific interest, owing to a lower side-effect burden, potential reduction of polypharmacy, and theoretical considerations that such interventions may target some of the cognitive roots of depression. Objective: We aimed to determine the state of the...
Anhedonia--which is defined as diminished pleasure from, or interest in, previously rewarding activities-is one of two cardinal symptoms of a major depressive episode. However, evidence suggests that standard treatments for depression do little to alleviate the symptoms of anhedonia and may cause reward blunting. Indeed, no therapeutics are currently approved for the treatment of anhedonia....
Depressive severity has been associated with attenuated neocortical frontal midline theta (Fm-θ) power/evoked activity. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has shown to be a successful novel intervention for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), albeit precise working mechanisms remain elusive. We examined the hypothesis that MBCT would have modulating effects upon evoked Fm-θ power, in...
The present study aimed at examining the effect of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in decreasing depression symptoms in dully diagnosed males (drug dependent males with co-morbid depression).An experimental research design with pre- and post-tests and a control group was used. The sample of the study comprised 33 drug-dependent men who also endorsed depression symptoms on the Beck...
OBJECTIVE: Patients with anxious depression are typically more difficult to treat with monoaminergic antidepressants compared to those with nonanxious depression. Although novel research has shown that the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine has rapidly acting, relatively sustained effects in treating depression, we predicted that, consistent with the existent literature on...
New neurons are generated in the hippocampus each day and their survival is greatly enhanced through effortful learning (Shors, 2014). The numbers of cells produced can be increased by physical exercise (van Praag, Kempermann, & Gage, 1999). These findings inspired us to develop a clinical intervention for humans known as Mental and Physical Training, or MAP Training. Each session consists of...
OBJECTIVE: Ketamine has demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD); however, the safety and tolerability of ketamine in this population have not been fully described. Herein we report the largest study to date of the safety, tolerability, and acceptability of ketamine in TRD. METHOD: Data from 205 intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions (0.5...