Psychiatrynet.eu

an independent selection of sites for psychiatrists, by psychiatrists

Depressive disorders

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Introduction top

The references within this topic are mostly to fairly general psychiatric sites. Given that depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, this should not be surprising. Good general psychiatric sites therefore pay a lot of attention to depressive disorders.


Generaltop

  • American Psychological Association: Summit on Women and Depression

    Mazure, C.M., Keita, G.P. & Blehar, M.C. (2002). Summit on Women and Depression: Proceedings and Recommendations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    The Women’s Programs Office (WPO) develops and disseminates reports, pamphlets, and other materials addressing research, practices, and consumer concerns relevant to women’s lives.
  • about.com: Depression

    An American site sponsored by several pharmaceutical companies. Nevertheless it has a lot of information about the aetiology and forms of depression. There is also some information on antidepressants.

  • Health On the Net Foundation (HON select): Depressive Disorder

    HONselect, operated by a Swiss foundation, and one of most respected not-for-profit portals to medical information on the Internet, includes a new medical and health search engine which combines five information types - MeSH® terms, authoritative scientific articles, healthcare news, web sites, and multimedia - into one service.

  • The World Health Report 2001

    The 2001 report focuses on the fact that mental health – neglected for far too long – is crucial to the overall well-being of individuals, societies and countries. The report advocates policies that are urgently needed to ensure that stigma and discrimination are overcome and that effective prevention and treatment are put in place.


Treatmenttop

  • Treatment in general

    Site of the American National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which includes very useful information about various psychiatric subjects.  This is the "Depression" section.

  • ECT

    Extensive information and links can be found under this topic under "Treatment" on Psychiatrynet.

  • Dr. Ivan's Depression Central

    This site is a central clearinghouse for information on all types of depressive disorders and on the most effective treatments for individuals suffering from major depression, manic-depression (bipolar disorder), cyclothymia, dysthymia, and other mood disorders. Site maintained by Dr. Ivan Goldberg, with no financial support from any public, nonprofit, or pharmaceutical source.

  • Saint John's Wort

    Factsheet about Saint John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a  subsidiary of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH).


Treatment protocolstop


Diagnosticstop

  • Dr. Phillip Long on diagnosis

    Site of the Canadian psychiatrist Philip Long.  Includes information about treatment, but is more complete in regard to diagnosis than most American sites because it addresses the ICD10 as well as the DSM-IV.

     


Aetiologytop


Meta-analysestop

  • Efficacy and tolerability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors compared with...

    MacGillivray, S., Aroll, B., Hatcher, S., Ogston, S., Reid, I., Sullivan, F., Williams, B. & Crombie, I. (2003) Efficacy and tolerability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors compared with tricyclic antidepressants in depression treated in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal, 326, 1014-1017.
    Downloadable PDF file. The authors conclude that most of the studies of patients in primary care are of poor quality.  No difference was found in the effectiveness between SSRIs and TCAs, though dropout rates, due in particular to side-effects, are higher in groups treated with TCAs.

  • Lithium augmentation in treatment-resistant depression

    Bauer, M. et al (1999) Lithium augmentation in treatment-resistant depression: a meta-analysis of placebo-controlled studies. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 19 (5), 427-434. Because The Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology is currently only searchable from 2001, this link is to the abstract of this article. For a link to the Journal, see the "Journal" subheading on this site.

  • Meta-analysis of effects and side effects of low dosage tricyclic antidepressants...

    Furukawa, T.A., McGuire, M. & Barbui, C. (2002). Meta-analysis of effects and side effects of low dosage tricyclic antidepressants in depression. Systematic review. British Medical Journal, 325, 991-995.
    In a meta-analysis of 39 studies, the authors conclude that tricyclic antidepressants in low doses (less than 100 mg/day) are effective in the treatment of depression. The effect found probably works on symptoms other than the 'core' symptoms of depression

  • Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of depression

    Martin, J.L.R., Barbanoj, M.J., Schlaepfer, T.E., Thompson, E., Pérez, V. & Kulisevsky, J. (2003) Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 480-491.
    The authors conclude that the research into the effectiveness of rTMS is weak: rTMS has an effect on "sham" right after treatment, but not at two-week follow up.

  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors versus tricyclic antidepressants

    Anderson, I.M. (2000) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors versus tricyclic antidepressants: a meta-analysis of efficacy and tolerability. Journal of Affective Disorders, 58 (1), 19-36.

    Article available only to subscribers of the Journal; the abstract is available for free.

  • Triiodothyronine augmentation in the treatment of refractory depression

    Aronson, R. et al (1996) Triiodothyronine augmentation in the treatment of refractory depression - a meta-analysis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 842-848.

    Though this article is ten years old, there are to our knowledge no more recently published double blind studies on this subject.


Researchtop

  • STAR*D Project

    Large American research project on how to treat patients who do not recover after a first treatment with an antidepressant.  Which treatment strategy can these patients tolerate and yields the best clinical results?

  • Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA)

    Long-term, large-scale research into the causes, course, and consequences of depression and anxiety disorders.


Survey articlestop

  • Recent developments and current controversies in depression

    A very readable review by Ebmeier et al., published in The Lancet. Considers the genetic origins of depression, functional changes in the brain, biological treatments for depression, and specific psychotherapies for depression 

  • The medical management of depression

    Very thorough article by J. J. Mann. Discusses the various pharmacological treatments for mood disorders, and briefly ECT and psychotherapy. Requires subscription to or purchase from The New England Journal of Medicine.

  • Depressive illness

    Doris, A., Ebmeier, K. & Shajahan, P. (1999). Depressive illness. The Lancet, 354(9187), 1369-1375.  A good survey article. The full text requires subscription to or purchased from The Lancet.


Psychotherapytop


Journalstop

  • Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

    General psychiatry journal focusing on clinical practice.  Every issue includes one or more articles about depression.

  • Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

    Every issue of this journal includes at least one article about mood disorders.

  • American Journal of Psychiatry

    Not a month goes by without an article about mood disorders. The journal maintains a well-organised website and content search facilities back to 1844, and accessible table of contents of recent issues. Articles can be sorted and selected by subject and category. References can be consulted for free but there is a charge for full text articles.

  • Archives of General Psychiatry

    Every issue includes an article about mood disorders. This monthly emphasises scientific articles. Free abstracts, full text only for subscribers. The search engine goes back several years end includes all the pages of the American Medical Association (JAMA and related archives). Table of contents is available by email delivery.

  • British Journal of Psychiatry

    Every issue includes at least one article about mood disorders.

  • Depression and Anxiety

    This journal focuses mainly on anxiety disorders, but also regularly publishes articles about research relating to various aspects of depression.

  • Journal of Affective Disorders

    This journal is specifically oriented towards mood disorders.


Weblogtop

  • Dr Shock MD, PhD

    Personal blog by a psychiatrist and academic about depression and its treatment. Includes news about neuroscience, training, internet and computers, albeit with a health slant.