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This week on Health Watch, we’re talking about research on treating depression. One problem that patients and doctors face in treating depression is that medications to treat depression aren’t usually as effective in the real world as they are in research studies.
Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, a psychiatrist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says the discrepancy between study results and real-world results is because patients selected for drug studies don’t accurately reflect the population of people dealing with depression. Some of the people with the most serious problems, such as those with suicidal thoughts, those who’ve tried other treatments or those with other psychiatric disorders, are excluded from trials. People with depression have a higher risk for diseases like obesity and diabetes, but these people also aren’t allowed to participate in clinical drug trials. Dr. Trivedi says trial participants need to better reflect the patient population.
Visit http://www.utsouthwestern.org/mentalhealth to learn more about
UT Southwestern’s clinical services in mental health.
