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An option for people who don’t see successful results from standard depression treatments like talk therapy or antidepressants is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Research shows that this non-invasive technique, which uses electromagnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, can fill the therapeutic void left when other treatments fail. (more…)

In March 2019, intranasal esketamine—a form of ketamine marketed as SPRAVATO™ CIII Nasal Spray*—was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). James Murrough, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai’s Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, was deeply involved in the research that led to esketamine’s FDA...

For many people coping with major depressive disorder—which includes different types of depression that persist for at least two weeks—antidepressants can play an invaluable role in helping relieve symptoms, enabling them to resume the life they once enjoyed. But for those who experience a form known as treatment-resistant depression (TRD), standard medications tend to provide little to no...

It goes without saying that COVID-19 is on the minds of nearly every American. The societal and economic disruption is almost without precedent. As government officials and clinicians wrestle with issues of how to protect the public, there seem to be more questions than answers. The mental health effects of COVID-19 are as important to address as are the physical health effects. Social...

As the concern for the coronavirus continues to grow, we want to do our part to inform our patients on what we are doing to help keep you safe and provide continued treatment options during this time. (more…)

Over the course of the past 100 years, our understanding of depression has greatly expanded, as has the number of therapeutic options available to deal with it. One thing researchers have learned in the past century is that, in the vast majority of cases, there is no one single cause for depression. Instead, an array of risk factors typically play into the development of a person’s depressive...

Everyone experiences some degree of anxiety from time to time. It’s coded into our DNA as part of the ‘fight or flight’ self-defense mechanism. In that context, anxiety produces a heightened state of awareness to potential threats and is a precursor to either standing and defending oneself (fight) or fleeing (flight). But for some people that heightened state of awareness can morph into an...

A single dose of ketamine may be able to curb harmful drinking behavior by “rewriting drinking memories,” according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. The researchers say that, when coupled with an exercise involving beer that pulls memories of alcohol to the foreground, there’s evidence that the drug can disrupt how the brain associates...

When I entered the ketamine clinic for the first time, I started crying almost immediately. This was for two reasons: First and foremost, I was scared. After watching a documentary that introduced me to the subject and reading several accounts of ketamine infusion therapy, I knew a fair amount about the process. But the experience sounded strange, disorienting, and mysterious. Despite having...

“Deep” repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) plus standard antidepressant medication is significantly more effective at reducing depression levels in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) than standard rTMS or stand-alone pharmacotherapy, new research suggests. (more…)