Researchers aimed repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which uses magnetic pulses to stimulate brain cells, at a spot chosen from each person’s own brain scan. In a small Columbia University pilot, 6 of 11 adults with treatment-resistant depression ended with low depression scores that met the trial’s remission threshold.1 Research Highlights Symptoms improved at the …
A 7-trial review favored adding celecoxib to antidepressants for depression, but its benefit was not confirmed after 3 high-risk trials were excluded.
Adding music to ketamine psychotherapy failed to provide extra antidepressant benefit over matched non-music support in a 2026 randomized clinical trial (RCT; a study that assigns participants to groups by chance), even though the full 6-infusion ketamine-psychotherapy course was followed by large depression-score reductions. Research Highlights Music added no confirmed MADRS benefit: in the MUSIK …
A 2026 medRxiv preprint reported that an at-home subcallosal cingulate cortex deep brain stimulation (SCC DBS) recording system could track stable recovery in severe treatment-resistant depression: in 7 analyzable patients, the local-field-potential biomarker predicted weekly recovery states with 0.72 ± 0.16 accuracy.1 The useful claim is not that brain recordings can diagnose depression broadly; it …
A 2026 DIVERGE analysis of 3,677 antidepressant-exposed patients with major depressive disorder in Pakistan classified 34% as treatment resistant, while 86% received psychotropic polypharmacy and only 6% received psychotherapy.1 The CYP2C19 signal is real enough to study prospectively, but the main treatment-system finding is medication stacking in a setting where psychological care was rare. Research …
A 2026 multimodal MRI study found that treatment-resistant depression had lower coordination between brain structure and brain activity than non-treatment-resistant depression in frontal, parietal, motor, and temporal regions. Machine-learning models using those structure-function coupling measures classified treatment-resistant vs. non-treatment-resistant depression with AUC values from 0.886 to 0.950 in the primary atlas analysis.1 Research Highlights TRD …
Intranasal esketamine — FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression in 2019 — failed cost-effectiveness benchmarks against four cheaper third-line options in a 2026 Hong Kong modeling study, with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of US$134,127 to US$312,750 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) at a US$50,000/QALY willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold.1 Combination antidepressant therapy was the most cost-effective strategy modeled. Research Highlights …