Moderator Effects of Life Stress on the Association between MAOA-uVNTR, Depression, and Burnout.

Background: The serotonergic and noradrenergic systems have a strong impact on several affective disorders and are key targets for psychopharmacological therapy. With respect to pathogenesis, there is a growing body of evidence showing an influence of a promoter repeat polymorphism (MAOA-uVNTR) altering the expression rate of monoamine oxidase A. However, only a few studies investigate its influence on depression with only 2 of them considering the moderating effects of life stress.

Differentiating Burnout from Depression: Personality Matters!

Stress-related affective disorders have been identified as a core health problem of the twenty-first century. In the endeavor to identify vulnerability factors, personality has been discussed as a major factor explaining and predicting disorders like depression or burnout. An unsolved question is whether there are specific personality factors allowing differentiation of burnout from depression.

Technology-enhanced maintenance of treatment gains in eating disorders: efficacy of an intervention delivered via text messaging.

Objective: Given the lack of maintenance interventions for eating disorders, a program delivered via the short message service (SMS) and text messaging was developed to support patients after their discharge from inpatient treatment.

Method: The efficacy of the intervention was studied in a randomized controlled trial. Additionally, its impact on the utilization of outpatient treatment during follow-up was investigated.