Journal of affective disorders
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Disentangling the association of depression on the anti-fatigue effects of ketamine.
Fatigue and depression are closely associated. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to understand the relationships between depression and improvements in specific depression domains on the anti-fatigue effects of ketamine, which we previously reported. ⋯ In this study, ketamine did not have a unique effect on fatigue outside of its general antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Specifically, the anti-fatigue effects of ketamine observed in this study seem to be explained by the effects of ketamine on two symptom domains of depression: amotivation and depressed mood. The study findings suggest that the anti-fatigue effects of ketamine should be assessed by fatigue-specific measures other than the NIH-BFI or future studies should enroll fatigued patients without depression.
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Hotlines are among commonly available and recommended suicide prevention strategies in many countries, but only a few empirical studies have focused on people who used this service and the proximal outcomes of calls made to the hotlines. This study is designed to investigate the demographic characteristics of the Taiwan National Suicide Prevention Hotline (NSPH) callers and whether the NSPH service helps to alleviate the callers' emotional distress and suicide risk. ⋯ The hotline is a useful suicide preventive and crisis intervention service. However, further creative and consistent work is needed to make the service more appealing to the hard-to-reach population.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Repeat-dose ketamine augmentation for treatment-resistant depression with chronic suicidal ideation: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial.
Several studies indicate that ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The extent to which repeated doses of ketamine (versus placebo) reduce depression in the short and long term among outpatients with TRD and chronic, current suicidal ideation remains unknown. ⋯ Repeated, non-escalating doses of ketamine did not outperform placebo in this double-blind, placebo controlled study of patients with severe TRD and current, chronic suicidal ideation. This result may support our previously published open-label data that, in this severely and chronically ill outpatient population, the commonly used dose of 0.5 mg/kg is not sufficient.
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While suicide bereavement has been assumed to be different from bereavement following death by other modes, a number of studies have reported that there are several similarities, particularly for violent deaths. The aims of the current study are to test, using confirmatory factor analysis, the factor structure of Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) that has been proposed in other studies; and to compare short term grief reactions, mental health, and suicidality six-months after bereavement in close family members bereaved by suicide versus sudden death. ⋯ The new knowledge of bereaved experiences specific to suicide loss at six-months post death, should be channelled into determining the most practical and satisfactory ways to alleviate the impacts of these potentially changeable states of experience.
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Inhibition of activated astrocyte ameliorates lipopolysaccharide- induced depressive-like behaviors.
Numerous studies indicate that inflammation plays important roles in the development of depression. Astrocytes are crucial regulators of immune response in the central nervous system, and strongly activated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. We hypothesized that inhibition of activated astrocytes contributed to ameliorate depressive-like symptoms. ⋯ Taken together, the results suggest that inhibition of activated astrocytes ameliorates LPS-induced depressive-like behavior, providing the first evidence that inhibition of activated astrocytes might represent a novel therapeutic target for depression.