Major Depressive Disorder

Disease State Hub

Videos

Video

Video

Practical Updates in Primary Care Recap—Road to Recovery in Major Depressive Disorder: From Partial Response to Remission and Beyond

07/23/2026

Rakesh Jain, MD, MPH, RD

Many patients with major depressive disorder remain “stuck” in partial response despite treatment. In this Practical Updates in Primary Care recap, Rakesh Jain, MD, MPH, outlines strategies to identify...

07/23/2026

Video

Video

Pupillary Light Reflex as a Pre-Treatment Biomarker For Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with MDD

01/10/2024

Andrew F. Leuchter, MD

In this video, Andrew F. Leuchter, MD, discusses his team’s study that examined pupillary light reflex (PLR) as a pre-treatment biomarker for repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in patients...

01/10/2024

Conference Coverage

Conference Coverage

Wrap-Up: Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health

09/27/2023

In this video, Josh Hamilton, APRN-BC, CTMH, CLNC, CNE, provides an overview of the session “Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health” at our Practical Updates in Primary Care...

09/27/2023

Conference Coverage

Measurement-Based Care in Major Depressive Disorder

08/17/2023

In this video, Saundra Jain, MA, PsyD, LPC, and Manish K. Jha, MBBS, speak about their session at Psych Congress 2022 titled “Measurement-Based Care in Depression and Beyond: What is it and how to make it...

08/17/2023

Conference Coverage

Preview: Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health

07/13/2023

In this video, Josh Hamilton, APRN-BC, CTMH, CLNC, CNE, provides a preview of the session “Digging Deeper: Renewing the Primary Care Commitment to Mental Health” at our Practical Updates in Primary Care...

07/13/2023

Conference Coverage

Conference Coverage

Major Depressive Disorder: Emerging Treatments

06/30/2023

In this video, Mark Zimmerman, MD, speaks about emerging treatments for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), including the recent research suggesting that the focus of depression treatment...

06/30/2023

Major Depressive Disorder Snapshot

For more mental health content, visit the Resource Center

For a period of at least 2 weeks, an individual maintains a depressed mood, which may involve feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of energy, poor concentration, appetite changes, agitation, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts.

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clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, primary care physicians, emergency medicine, social workers

For more perspective from key opinion leaders in mental health, visit the Clinical Insights page

One must have at least 5 symptoms from this list: depressed mood, inability to experience pleasure, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of energy, poor concentration, appetite changes, agitation, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts

For more perspective on major depression disorder, visit the Clinical Insights page

(continued) From that list, one of the symptoms must be a depressed mood or inability to experience pleasure in order to be diagnosed with MDD.

Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559078/

For more patient education content, visit the Resource Center

The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9): Used to quantify severity and assist in diagnosis of depression symptoms. PHQ-9 scores each of the DSM criteria of MDD as “0” (not at all) to “3” (nearly every day), providing a 0-27 severity score.

For more patient safety content, visit the Resource Center

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D): clinician-administered depression rating scale commonly used to measure depression in adults. Of the 21 items on the scale, only the first 17 are used for scoring.

For more perspective from leaders in psychology, visit the Clinical Insights page

(continued) Other tests include: Beck Depression Inventory, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale

For more primary care content, visit the Resource Center

In 2021, an estimated 21 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode, representing an estimated 8.3% of all U.S. adults.

for more public health content, visit the Resource Center

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all adults—including those pregnant and postpartum—be screened for depression.

For more pediatrics content, visit the Resource Center

The percentage of female high school students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021 was 57%, a record level and double the rate of males.

Research Summaries

Research Summary

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Research Summary

Danish Primary Care Trials Find Collaborative Care Improves Long-Term Depression Outcomes Versus Consultation Liaison

07/17/2026

Kate Young

In two pragmatic randomized trials conducted in the Capital Region of Denmark, investigators compared collaborative care with consultation liaison in general practice to assess whether greater involvement...

07/17/2026

Research Summary

Research Summary

Collaborative Care for Depression in Primary Care: Meta-Analysis Identifies Most Effective Treatment Components

05/08/2026

Anthony Calabro, MA

An individual participant data meta-analysis clarifies which elements of collaborative care most effectively reduce depressive symptoms in primary care, informing implementation strategies for clinicians...

05/08/2026

Research Summary

Research Summary

Measurement-Based Care Speeds Depression Response, Remission in Randomized Trial

05/06/2026

Kate Young

A randomized clinical trial in Pakistan evaluated whether structured, measurement-based care could accelerate antidepressant response and remission in adults with major depressive disorder compared with...

05/06/2026

FDA Approval

FDA Approval

Lumateperone (Caplyta) Gains FDA Approval for Relapse Prevention in Schizophrenia

04/30/2026

Anthony Calabro, MA

The FDA has approved a supplemental indication for lumateperone to reduce relapse risk in adults with schizophrenia based on phase 3 randomized withdrawal data.

04/30/2026

Research Summary

Research Summary

Soft Drink Intake Linked to MDD Diagnosis and Severity, Partly Mediated by Eggerthella in Women

10/15/2025

Kate Young

Recent research found that soft drink consumption may be linked to major depressive disorder diagnosis and increased depressive symptom severity, with significant associations observed only among women. ...

10/15/2025

July 2026

Current Issue

July 2026

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559078/
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13.
https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/Hamilton%20Rating%20Scale%20for%20Depression%20(HAM-D).pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth behavior risk survey: data summary and trends report. Accessed March 31, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/yrbs_data_summary_and_trends.htm