Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2017

What is Treatment-Resistant Depression?

With strategies such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Ketamine, and psychedelics becoming more prevalent for treatment-resistant depression, it is helpful to take a look at what this entity really means. Not everyone who is being referred for either TMS or treatment with Ketamine may have "true" treatment-resistant depression and then there is what is called "pseudo-resistance." In simple terms, treatment-resistant depression implies that depression has not reached sufficient remission after an adequate treatment. Remission is defined as clinical improvement with few signs of depression still remaining and a lower likelihood of subsequent exacerbations. About 15% of people with depression may eventually develop treatment-resistant depression (Berlim & Turecki, 2007). Treatment-resistant depression has been variously defined, but the most commonly accepted definition is as below (Souery et al., 2007): A person with depression is considered