The Impact of Intravenous Ketamine on Attentional Bias: Probing Mechanisms of Rapid-Acting Antidepressant Effects Across Two Clinical Studies.

Background: Ketamine is known for its rapid antidepressant effect, but its impact on affective information processing (including attentional bias, a putative cognitive mechanism of depression), remains largely unexplored. We leveraged a novel measurement of attentional bias and sought to: (1) establish adequate test-retest reliability and validity among depressed participants prior to ketamine treatment; and (2) harness a single dose of ketamine to assess mechanistic shifts in attentional bias and their relation to antidepressant efficacy.

Methods: A novel dual probe video task was used to index attentional bias toward sad film clips.

Improved implicit self-esteem is associated with extended antidepressant effects following a novel synergistic intervention.

Introduction: In a previously published randomized controlled trial, automated self-association training (ASAT), a novel digital intervention, was found to extend the rapid antidepressant effect of a single infusion of ketamine for at least 30 days. In this secondary analysis, we aimed to understand the potential role of implicit self-esteem in the combined antidepressant effect of ketamine and ASAT training, by investigating the novel synergistic treatment's effects on implicit self-associations and their relation to symptom improvement.

Methods: A total of 154 adults (ages 18-60) with treatment-resistant unipolar depression and lower-than-normative explicit self-esteem were randomized in a double-blind, parallel-arm design to receive one of three treatment allocations: an active/active treatment combination consisting of one infusion of ketamine (0.

Rapid neuroplasticity changes and response to intravenous ketamine: a randomized controlled trial in treatment-resistant depression.

Intravenous ketamine is posited to rapidly reverse depression by rapidly enhancing neuroplasticity. In human patients, we quantified gray matter microstructural changes on a rapid (24-h) timescale within key regions where neuroplasticity enhancements post-ketamine have been implicated in animal models. In this study, 98 unipolar depressed adults who failed at least one antidepressant medication were randomized 2:1 to a single infusion of intravenous ketamine (0.

Randomized trial of brief interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for depression delivered both in-person and by telehealth.

Background: Expert consensus guidelines recommend Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), interventions that were historically delivered face-to-face, as first-line treatments for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Despite the ubiquity of telehealth following the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about differential outcomes with CBT versus IPT delivered in-person (IP) or via telehealth (TH) or whether working alliance is affected.

Methods: Adults meeting DSM-5 criteria for MDD were randomly assigned to either 8 sessions of IPT or CBT (group).

A Novel, Brief, Fully Automated Intervention to Extend the Antidepressant Effect of a Single Ketamine Infusion: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: Intravenous ketamine, which displays rapid antidepressant properties, is posited to reverse depression by rapidly enhancing neuroplasticity. The authors tested whether an automated, computer-based approach could efficiently leverage enhanced neuroplasticity to extend the durability of rapid clinical response.

Methods: A total of 154 adults (ages 18-60) with treatment-resistant unipolar depression were randomized in a double-blind, parallel-arm design to receive an active/active treatment combination (ketamine plus active "automated self-association training" [ASAT]; N=53) or one of two control arms that lacked either the active drug component (saline plus active ASAT; N=51) or the active behavioral component (ketamine plus sham ASAT; N=50).

The emerging use of technology for the treatment of depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

Background: Our objective is to review emerging technologies intended for the treatment of depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

Methods: These technologies include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), magnetic seizure therapy (MST), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), deep brain stimulation (DBS), cortical brain stimulation (CBS), and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG).

Results: The rationale for these technologies, their mechanisms of action, and how they are used in clinical practice are described.

Exploratory randomized clinical study of pagoclone in persistent developmental stuttering: the EXamining Pagoclone for peRsistent dEvelopmental Stuttering Study.

Introduction: Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by repetitions, prolongation, and blocks of sounds, syllables, or words. No pharmacological treatments are approved for use in stuttering, and the most common form of treatment is speech therapy. This study was designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of pagoclone during 8 weeks of double-blind treatment followed by a 1-year open-label extension in patients who stutter.