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Post by SKher on Mar 6, 2017 12:37:34 GMT -4
This article was very interesting to read and great to see that advancements are being made in the diagnosing of mental health diseases. Unlike other diseases, where you have the help of imaging or blood tests to diagnose, mental health conditions are solely based on the history that is taken from the patient. This makes it difficult to get a definitive diagnosis, as well as explain to the patient and their families exactly what is going on and why it’s happening; with new imaging techniques such as the fMRI, it may now be easier to explain what is happening to a patient and maybe even increase compliance with medications and improve outcomes. I also really liked how the article emphasized that people with depression exhibit the condition in different ways, and that we shouldn’t be “placing these disorders under blanket labels”. Mental illness is something that is unfortunately not understood well by many people, and I think this article does a great job of telling the reader that advancements are being made, and slowly but surely, we’ll have more understanding of that pathophysiology of these conditions.
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Post by Michelle Benjamin on Mar 6, 2017 15:31:27 GMT -4
What's interesting about the psychiatry field is that in as much as it's a science it's also an art. It's difficult for us the genuinely prove/study the conditions that manifest themselves because they appear in different persons in different ways. We make most of the diagnoses based on a constellation of symptoms. A big part of that is that, although a lot of ground has been gained, we still know very little about the human brain. It's comforting to know that a more scientific approach to mental illness is being developed and tested. This will help to drive treatments that are more specific to each patient and possibly even help prevent the symptoms from manifesting themselves to begin with. It would prevent a lot of pain patients and their families experience as a result of their illness.
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Post by Amaka E on Mar 7, 2017 11:15:14 GMT -4
It is interesting and exciting to see that more research is being conducted in the field of Mental Health and particularly about depression, as there was not much awareness to the topic most especially in African American communities.In my opinion these new methods of diagnosis will most like help to bring awareness to depression cases as patients will have different options to consider not just the traditional way. The article also helps in understanding that depression is not just a general idea, it is something that is more complex and can vary from individual to individual, knowing this can help further with better treatment options and plans that will focus on each individuals specific needs. This is something that is very important in medicine as every patient is different and has different contributing factors to each patient.
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Post by Zagros Motamed AUA on Mar 7, 2017 12:45:18 GMT -4
These new findings should be very exciting for people who suffer from depression because we can finally have an objective test instead of relying on subjective reports from the patient which can make it more difficult to get the right diagnosis. If these tests prove to be effective in the diagnosis of depression it would put the field of psychiatry more in line with other medical fields which all have diagnostic testing. By targeting the TMS treatment to areas of the brain which need it the new diagnostic test can help improve the effectiveness of TMS which means less trials of different drugs for those unlucky few who don't respond to pharmacotherapy. This is important because these medications have a lot of negative side effects which can only make things worse when someone is battling depression. So over all these findings are an exciting start but it is just the tip of the iceberg as our understanding of the human brain and how it functions is only in its infancy compared to other medical fields.
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Roshni Patel AUA Guest
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Post by Roshni Patel AUA Guest on Mar 8, 2017 13:32:08 GMT -4
The innovations discussed in the article were very interesting and would be a major diagnostic breakthrough in psychiatry if successful. Depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric illness. The difficult thing about treating depression is that its presentation, causes and severity differ from person to person and that there is no clear rules or specific patterns that it follows. Knowing why something is happening is important in medicine because it directly correlates to the appropriate treatment. Most patient's diagnosed with depression have usually tried 5-10 different drugs/ treatments which frequently change and have terrible side effects. This can be very frustrating for patients. The technique talked about in the article would help to avoid the "trial and error" method which frequently occurs in practice. Since Neuroscience and Psychiatry are so intertwined, these diagnostic approaches will be able to teach us so much more more about connections we never know about. Overall I am interested the use of medical technology increased in the field of psychiatry.
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Post by Jenna Lyn on Mar 8, 2017 15:21:41 GMT -4
In medical field in general, the diagnosis of a disease in it's early phases - no matter what the disease is - tends to offer a better prognosis. This is also beneficial in cutting the costs financially in treating diseases and the possible sequela of that disease. In the field of psychiatry, where Major Depressive Disorder is diagnosed in individuals daily based off of a clinical diagnosis, this article opens a field of possibilities. Not only does an fMRI allow concrete data supporting the diagnosis of depression, it also allows for depression to be placed into categories. According to the article, fMRI's have the ability to categorize depression into 4 sub-types. This can eventually lead to different treatments that can be tailored to the type of depression diagnosed and even the possibility of non-pharmalogical treatments. Overall, this research opens a world of opportunities and offers hope for those suffering from depression.
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Post by Marjorie Williams on Mar 8, 2017 16:35:05 GMT -4
Staying the brain and how disturbances within the brain manifest into Psychiatric disorders will be as mysterious as it is rewarding for the next several decades. As we further formulate and negate hypotheses, we are getting closer and closer to academically explaining the phenomenon of mental incapabilities and disabilities. Depression, for example, plagues many patients leaving doctors overprescribing antidepressants and patients still feeling hopeless. The true question is: Are medical researchers properly understanding the biochemical imbalance present in Depression and are medical doctors adequately addressing the patient as a whole being verses treating the depression? By exploring neurotransmitters and sections of the brain involved in Depression, the medical community can aggressively manage it. Also, by entertaining new treatment regimens such as TMS, the medical community can not only offer new solutions to patients but provide an alternative thought process as to how Depression is rectified in general. To provide more data, patients should be further educated about multiple treatment options outside of medications, specifically TMS. This will give the patient autonomy when it comes to decided the management of their mental disease.
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Post by sarahs on Mar 9, 2017 18:09:10 GMT -4
1. Most people don’t realize that depression is a real thing. They think it’s something you can just overcome by using the concept mind over matter. I agree that since medications aren’t always proven to work and electroconvulsive therapy has a major side effect of amnesia, TMS could really be the next best thing. Since this only sends waves of electric currents to the depressed parts of the brain, the rest of it won’t be affected therefore doesn’t have as many side effects. What stuck out in this article was how depressed patients had very similar abnormal electrical brain activity to medical students preparing for medical licensing exams. Going through the process of taking STEP, it doesn’t seem surprising. Getting a glimpse of depression during that time was by far the worst time in life, I can’t possibly imagine someone going through it all the time without and escape for it.
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Post by Sapna Gopal on Mar 10, 2017 2:06:50 GMT -4
TMS seems to be a great treatment method for Depression in patients where typical medication does not work. For the particular patient Dalton the treatment did wonders. Thoughts of suicidality were completely gone after TMS and she felt like a burden had been lifted off her after treatment. I believe such advances in the psychiatric field are essential in tapping into the neurological basis of disease or disorder. TMS is a way to rewire the brain, give the brain a shock or jolt to work/think differently. As the the bottom of the article mentions a way for targeting the specific areas of the brain will be available in 5 years or so I believe that is a great achievement. More advances such as this need to be discovered.
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Post by S Stephano on Mar 12, 2017 16:53:13 GMT -4
This is an interesting article because it highlights how a current treatment option now reserved for those with resistant depression can be more widely used to treat more types of depression. While current pharmaceuticals can be very successful in treating depression, patients typically have to endure a period of 'trial and error’ to determine what drug best treats symptoms with the least side effects. In the future, if TMS can be utilized to focus on the exact areas of the brain that are causing depression, a patient can potentially become asymptotic more quickly and obtain a better quality of life earlier on.
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Post by P Thakur SGU on Mar 20, 2017 15:38:02 GMT -4
I find this article to be quite interesting, as it describes new objective clinical findings that could be used to support the diagnosis of depression. Until now we must rely on the subjective conveyance of symptoms to make a diagnosis for depression, which as the article mentioned, may not be specific enough. Diagnosing someone with depression lumps them into one large group with other patients with depression, despite the scale and variety of presentation. Newer imaging methods, such as Fmri imaging modality, will allow for a more specific diagnosis, and thus hopefully a more targeted therapy. One such targeted therapy they mentioned in the article is TMS, a technology I have been intrigued and amazed by. I think further incorporation of fMRI into treatment would provide both patient and practitioner with objective metrics with which to measure progress, and hopefully more precision in treating diseases such as depression.
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Post by J Bass on Mar 20, 2017 15:53:03 GMT -4
In the field of Psychiatry, depression is one of those mental health issues that, in the past, hasn't been given enough attention. When it comes to mental health it is very difficult to treat patients, because it is not just one test or symptom to diagnose a patient. Ultimately, prescribing medications you can do more harm to the patient than good if you haven't properly diagnosed a patient. I believe the new research being done is a good step in the right direction in attempting to create smarter ways of properly diagnosing patients with different types of depression. Once there is a better understanding of how depression affects different parts of the brain and body there can be more accurate diagnoses and more effective cures.
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Post by Ali Choudhry on Mar 25, 2017 14:57:40 GMT -4
Although I can appreciate the new-age research and development taking place in the field of psychiatry, the notion that each patient is different holds true that much greater when managing psychiatric patients versus other specialties. Without a doubt, TMS is a great option for refractory depression. However, I believe the onus is on the clinician to appropriately evaluate a patient before jumping to second or third line treatment modalities, which are often less cost-effective. In addition, psychotherapy plays a major role in the management of psychiatric illness, specifically depression, and I believe more training is needed in developing these skills, rather than relying or pushing for medications and brain imaging. Patience and trial-and-error are signature elements of psychiatry -the correct dose of the correct drug will not always alleviate symptoms as it often may for organic illnesses.
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Nadine Mohamed UMHS
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Post by Nadine Mohamed UMHS on Mar 26, 2017 23:25:10 GMT -4
This article brings up some good points that I think could be applied to many different psychiatric conditions. For example just like how depression can manifest in many different ways, so can bipolar disorder. I do think more research needs to be done at the cellular level to see where and how we can improve treatment options. There may even be room for natural treatment as opposed to pharmaceutical. In addition just like how race can be a risk factor in cardiovascular disease and also the treatment for hypertension, for example, we should take a look at the prevalence of depression and other psychiatric illnesses in different races and see how approaches to treatments can be modified to best treat patients of different races.
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Post by Syed Ali Karim on Apr 2, 2017 15:00:57 GMT -4
In this article, the author covers the possible idea of treating patients who suffer from depression without using unnecessarily invasive methods. Majority of the time, medical students and physicians alike are just looking for patients to exhibit the symptoms that we memorized as a mnemonic in order to diagnose them with depression and initiate the appropriate treatment. What caught my attention in this article was the idea that even medical students experience abnormal circuit-firing in our neurons due to the stress of medical school or a licensing exam, and it almost mirrors the brain of a depressed patient. The technique utilized to illustrate this narrative was a functional MRI and it's helping to show which areas of the brain specifically are being affected when a patient suffers from depression. And in turn what has resulted is a potentially revolutionary treatment in the form of Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation. Normally, this treatment is reserved for patients who have depression refractory to pharmacological treatment, but in Mrs. Dalton's case it has shown promise as she has noticed the difference in how she felt pre and post-treatment. And if one patient can serve as an indicator, then the future of medicine will be as bright as ever as patients can seek out treatment without the fear of side effects that come with it, and that idea alone excites me on a personal level.
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