Major Depressive Disorder News and Research

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Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia (significant loss of interest or pleasure). The condition affects more than 15.7 million adults and approximately 3 million adolescents (aged 13 to 17 years) in the USA each year.

Relationship between depressive symptoms and cardiac events

New data published in the March 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggest that relatively healthy women with severe depression are at increased risk of cardiac events, including sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD).

10 Mar 2009

History of major depression increases risk for heart disease more than genetics or environment

A history of major depression increases the risk of heart disease over and above any genetic risks common to depression and heart disease, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the VA.

4 Mar 2009

Transcendental meditation helps students with college stress

Transcendental meditation may be an effective non-medicinal tool for students to buffer themselves against the intense stresses of college life, according to a new study to be published in the February 24 issue of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Psychophysiology.

24 Feb 2009

Mum who tried to poison her children placed on good-behaviour bond

An Australian woman who tried to poison her two children last year has been placed on a good-behaviour bond after pleading guilty to the charge of intending to harm them.

10 Feb 2009

A framework for major depressive disorder

Genes, psychological adversity in childhood, and recent or ongoing psychological stress may combine to cause major depression, write Dr. Sanjay Mathew and colleagues from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in a review published in CMAJ.

2 Feb 2009

Internet program helps reduce depressive symptoms in teens

An Internet program helps to reduce depressive symptoms and prevent episodes of clinical depression in adolescent patients at risk, reports a study in the February issue of the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

2 Feb 2009

Osteoporosis? Look out for depression

A review article which is published in the current issue of the European Journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics analyzes the relationship between depression and bone metabolism.

19 Jan 2009

Savella - Fibromyalgia treatment approved by FDA

Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Cypress Bioscience, Inc. have announced that Savella (milnacipran HCl), a selective serotonin and norepinephrine dual reuptake inhibitor, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of fibromyalgia.

19 Jan 2009

Depressed adolescents not harmed by being part of placebo group in clinical trial

In a national clinical trial, adolescents with moderate to severe depression first given a placebo treatment and then an antidepressant medication alone or in combination with therapy responded just as well over the long term as participants who received active treatment throughout the study, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

19 Jan 2009

Expectant brains help predict anxiety treatment success

A network of emotion-regulating brain regions implicated in the pathological worry that can grip patients with anxiety disorders may also be useful for predicting the benefits of treatment.

5 Jan 2009

Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) shown to delay new episodes of depression

New data suggest that Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) 60 mg to 120 mg once daily delayed the onset of a new episode of depression in patients who had previously responded to the medication and who had recurrent depressive disorder, defined in the study as those patients who experienced at least three depressive episodes in the previous five years, compared with placebo (p < .001).

14 Dec 2008

Eli Lilly withdraws application for additional U.S. indication for Cymbalta for chronic pain

Eli Lilly and Company has withdrawn its supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) for the management of chronic pain.

30 Nov 2008

Watson Pharmaceuticals receives FDA approval for generic Wellbutrin XL

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has received final approval today from the United States Food and Drug Administration on its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Bupropion Hydrochloride Extended-Release Tablets (XL) in the 150 mg strength.

26 Nov 2008

Strong link between antidepressants fluoxetine and paroxetine and heart anomalies in pregnancy

Women who took the antidepressant fluoxetine during the first three months of pregnancy gave birth to four times as many babies with heart problems as women who did not and the levels were three times higher in women taking paroxetine.

24 Nov 2008

FDA accepts Labopharm's NDA for formulation of trazodone

Labopharm Inc. has announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for the Company's novel once-daily formulation of trazodone (DDS-04A), a serotonin antagonist reuptake inhibitor (SARI), for the treatment of major depressive disorder, has been accepted for review and filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

24 Nov 2008

Pregnancy study finds strong association between two antidepressants and heart anomalies

24 Nov 2008

Valdoxan - a melatonergic antidepressant - receives positive European opinion for major depressive disorder

The first melatonergic antidepressant - Valdoxan/Thymanax (agomelatine) - has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for its use in the treatment of adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

21 Nov 2008

No clear evidence that depression screening improves cardiovascular patients' health

Results of a new study call into question recent clinical guidelines issued by leading cardiovascular groups, including the American Heart Association, which recommend patients with cardiovascular disease be screened for signs of depression and treated accordingly.

16 Nov 2008

MRI reveals relationship between depression and pain

The brains of individuals with major depressive disorder appear to react more strongly when anticipating pain and also display altered functioning of the neural network that modifies pain sensitivity, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Nov 2008