Blood Test for Depression

A study shows how this ailment can finally be diagnosed in an objective way

If you weren’t feeling so good about life and went to a psychiatrist, he pretty much had to take your word for it. And you had to trust him if he diagnosed you with depression. There was really no objective way to measure the ailment. That has changed now with the development of the first ever blood test for major depression.

According to a report on the website Sciencedaily.com, scientists from Northwestern University have come up with a set of criteria for a test that eliminates the questionnaire. The report says, ‘The test identifies depression by measuring the levels of nine RNA blood markers. RNA molecules are the messengers that interpret the DNA genetic code and carry out its instructions.’

But that is not all that the test does. Depending on what it shows, it also indicates whether a patient should go in for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which relies on changing the way you think in order to address mental ailments like depression. The researchers found that markers showed improvement within 18 weeks of CBT and the depression was brought under control.

Eva Redei, who developed the test, was quoted as saying, “This clearly indicates that you can have a blood- based laboratory test for depression, providing a scientific diagnosis in the same way someone is diagnosed with high blood pressure or high cholesterol. This test brings mental health diagnosis into the 21st century and offers the first personalized medicine approach to people suffering from depression.”

For the study, Redei’s team took 32 depressed patients and an equal number of non-depressed people. In those with depression, they had already identified nine RNA markers. ‘After 18 weeks of therapy, the changed levels of certain markers could differentiate patients who had responded positively and were no longer depressed (based on a clinical interview and patients’ self-reported symptoms) from patients who remained depressed. This is the first biological indicator of the success of cognitive behavioral therapy, the study authors said,’ noted the Sciencedaily report.

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