Here’s a frustrating/'frʌstretɪŋ/ fact for anyone who has been prescribed/prɪˈskraɪbd/ medication or therapy/'θɛrəpi/ for depression: Your doctor doesn’t know what treatment will work for you.
“It is currently complete/kəm'plit/ primitive/'prɪmətɪv/ guesswork,” Leanne Maree Williams, a professor at Stanford University, says. “It’s hard to imagine how you can do worse than the current situation, to be honest.”
Depression means being stuck/stʌk/ in a chronic/'krɑnɪk/ state of sad mood or lack of enjoyment in life, to a degree where it starts to degrade quality of life. The two main treatments are cognitive/'kɑɡnətɪv/ behavioral therapy/'θɛrəpi/ (CBT), a talk-centered/'sɛntɚd/ approach that gets patients to readjust their habits, and antidepressant/ˌæntɪdɪ'prɛsnt/ medications.
Both are about equally effective. Around 40 percent of patients will get better on either.
But no one treatment reliably works for everyone. And it’s not just about talk therapy/'θɛrəpi/ versus/'vɝsəs/ drugs/drʌgz/. Even in the realm of medication, available drugs like Zoloft and Cymbalta will work for some but not others.
Enter “precision/prɪ'sɪʒn/ psychiatry/saɪ'kaɪətri/.” Inspired/ɪn'spaɪrd/ in part by “precision medicine,” which changed the way doctors treat certain kinds of cancer, psychiatric/ˌsaɪkɪ'ætrɪk/ researchers are hoping to bring a “precision” approach to diagnosing/ˌdaɪəɡ'nos/ and treating depression using brain scans and machine learning algorithms/'ælgə'rɪðəm/. Too many patients are left frustrated after treatments fail. These scientists think they can do better.
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