Depression Clinical & Research Program

The Depression Clinical and Research Program, led by David Mischoulon, MD, PhD, seeks to develop effective treatments for depression. The program is committed to providing excellent care to patients in need, along with conducting groundbreaking research in the field of depression. The program conducts research with a focus on testing new antidepressant treatments and developing new tools to understand the biological changes that occur in depression which may lead to better and faster diagnosis. The goal of the program is to make depression both treatable and preventable.

Clinical Care

The clinical component of the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) delivers care outside of the research setting to people with depressive disorders. The program provides a number of different services, including:

• Patient evaluations and follow-up care
• One-time consultations for patients whose depression has failed to respond to multiple therapies
• Second opinions

The DCRP staff includes full-time psychiatrists, psychologists, research fellows, along with research coordinators, a program coordinator, a data analyst, a practice manager and a patient service coordinator.

Resilience Program at the DCRP

This program is designed to help young people—men and women (ages 14 to 30)—increase their resilience and develop better coping skills for managing stress.

Learn more about the Resilience Program

Insurances We Accept

The program does not accept all insurances, and the individual physicians vary in what insurance they accept. If your insurance is not accepted by the program, you may elect to self-pay if your insurance allows it. Medicare, MassHealth products, Health Safety Net, Harvard Pilgrim, United Health Care and some Tufts Health plans that subcontract (carve out) their mental health benefits do not allow this option. The program does not accept the Magellan carve-out.

Research at the DCRP

The DCRP conducts leading-edge research in the area of depression, with a focus on testing novel antidepressant treatments and developing new tools to understand the biological changes that occur in this condition. Our program is a leader worldwide in the study of unipolar depressive disorders. The DCRP’s research has informed clinical practice and contributed to the development of new standards of care for depression. DCRP researchers have received significant funding from both the National Institute of Mental Health and industry sponsors.

Areas of Research

• Psychotherapy studies: psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), stress reduction therapy, culturally-focused counseling and telepsychiatry
• Medication trials: antidepressants, atypical antipsychotics, naltrexone, acamprosate and ketamine, among others
• Population studies: college students, ethnic minority patients, patients with Parkinson’s disease and patients with nicotine dependence
• Non-medication treatment studies: including cranial electrical stimulation (CES), acupuncture, placebo, photobiomodulation and a medication management system
• Natural treatment studies: including omega-3 fatty acids, St John’s wort, S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), maca root, vitamins and probiotics
• Non-treatment studies of various psychological and physical processes: stress and aging, visual memory and object recognition, responses to reward and punishment, speech patterns and fMRI

Active Studies

If any of these studies interest you, please call us at 877-552-5837 to learn more. All inquiries will be kept confidential.

• Neurobiological Underpinnings of Placebo Response in Major Depressive Disorder
• Adapted CBT for Depression in Patients with Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
• Neuroimaging Studies of Reward Processing
• Augmentation versus Switch: Comparative Effectiveness Research Trial
• Xenon Inhalation Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder
• Mindfulness, Guided Imagery and Supportive Group Treatments to Improve Mood for Dementia Caregiver

Resources

To learn more about the nature and treatment of depression, we suggest the following websites:

• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
  Offers information on mood disorders, local and national support groups, programs and publications, and relevant news and research updates.
• National Foundation for Depressive Illness
  Educational and advocacy site, providing information for patients and physicians referrals through a toll free telephone number.
• National Institute of Mental Health Depression
  NIMH site with thorough information on depression causes, symptoms and treatments. This site also features case studies, NIMH booklets and information on current NIMH studies.
• National Alliance for Mentally Ill (NAMI)
  Nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families and friends of people with severe mental illnesses.

Support Our Work

Depression can profoundly impact an individual's quality of life. Its impact on well-being is comparable to or greater than many chronic medical conditions. Depression is currently the leading cause of disability in developed countries and the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. Projections estimate that depression will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide by 2020. The annual cost of depression in the U.S. alone is approximately $70-80 billion.

Depression has also been characterized by an increased risk of suicide, particularly in children and adolescents. In the last 50 years, the suicide rate has tripled for 15-19-year-olds and doubled for 10-14-year-olds. Currently, suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death in adolescents.

Funding for the Depression Clinical and Research Program

Each year, thousands of individuals struggling with depression will turn to the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) at Massachusetts General Hospital for therapies that offer hope and alleviate suffering. The DCRP relies on philanthropy to advance its mission of providing the highest-quality patient care and conducting state-of the-art scientific research to discover more effective and innovative depression therapies. Thanks to the generosity of individuals, foundations and private and public supporters, the DCRP remains passionately committed to generating new treatments and standards of care – not only for our patients, but also for the millions of people worldwide who suffer from this disorder. Philanthropy enables the DCRP to:

• Convert new discoveries about the biological basis of depression into clinical approaches
• Develop more effective medical and alternative therapies to treat depression
• Improve our ability to care for patients from high-risk or underserved populations

The DCRP is poised to make a profound impact on depression treatment, while also fostering a vital training ground for the next generation of leaders in the field.

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