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Analysis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: New Approaches

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 8247

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Interests: psychological distress; mental health; psychological support; depression; anxiety
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Over the past decades, solid evidence-based recommendations about both analysis and treatment of depression and anxiety were highlighted from scientific research, and significant progress has been made in these fields. However, the relevant prevalence rates of these disorders in the general population, besides their correlations with the onset and worsening of other mental disorders and/or medical comorbidities, the risk of early death, a decreased quality of life, etc., highlight the need for exploring new diagnostic approaches and detecting new treatments.

These days, a lot of therapeutic strategies, both pharmacological and psychotherapeutically, are available, and a growing number of molecules have shown helpful and encouraging results. Nevertheless, approximately 30% of patients suffering from these mental disorders do not respond to common treatments, especially when pharmacological choice is diagnostic-group-related and does not address a patients-centered approach. For this reason, the new millennium medicine challenge must be an early diagnosis, but also the personalization of the treatment. We have to consider how research is moving more and more towards precision medicine, and this should be the goal in psychiatry as in the others medicine’s fields. Regarding the treatment of severe and treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, special attention should be paid to newer molecules, which are showing an innovative and promising therapeutic approach. Despite all the studies and therapeutic innovations in this area, further research is needed, and papers addressing these topics are invited for this Special Issue, especially those combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on providing and even better knowledge about these topics.

Dr. Claudia Carmassi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • comorbidities
  • clinical trials
  • individualized psychiatry
  • new approaches
  • naturalistic studies
  • assessment

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 526 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Adding Art Therapy to Ongoing Antidepressant Treatment in Moderate-to-Severe Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Study
by Myungjoo Lee, Han Choi, Jiwon Shin and Ho-Suk Suh
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010091 - 21 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3021
Abstract
This randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the effects of art psychotherapy on moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder (MDD). Forty-two MDD patients were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Participants were allocated on a randomized, open-label basis to [...] Read more.
This randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the effects of art psychotherapy on moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder (MDD). Forty-two MDD patients were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Participants were allocated on a randomized, open-label basis to either an experimental group, wherein they were treated with art psychotherapy added to pharmacotherapy, or a control group, wherein they were treated with pharmacotherapy alone. Pre- and post-test measures of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and remission rates were measured. The results indicate that patients treated with art psychotherapy and ongoing pharmacotherapy showed slightly greater improvement when compared with pharmacotherapy alone in moderate-to-severe MDD. These results suggest that art psychotherapy could be an effective add-on strategy for the treatment of moderate-to-severe MDD. However, a rigorous test would facilitate a better understanding of art psychotherapy as an add-on strategy for MDD treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: New Approaches)
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15 pages, 924 KiB  
Systematic Review
A Systematic Review of Location Data for Depression Prediction
by Jaeeun Shin and Sung Man Bae
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(11), 5984; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115984 - 29 May 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2071
Abstract
Depression contributes to a wide range of maladjustment problems. With the development of technology, objective measurement for behavior and functional indicators of depression has become possible through the passive sensing technology of digital devices. Focusing on location data, we systematically reviewed the relationship [...] Read more.
Depression contributes to a wide range of maladjustment problems. With the development of technology, objective measurement for behavior and functional indicators of depression has become possible through the passive sensing technology of digital devices. Focusing on location data, we systematically reviewed the relationship between depression and location data. We searched Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases by combining terms related to passive sensing and location data with depression. Thirty-one studies were included in this review. Location data demonstrated promising predictive power for depression. Studies examining the relationship between individual location data variables and depression, homestay, entropy, and the normalized entropy variable of entropy dimension showed the most consistent and significant correlations. Furthermore, variables of distance, irregularity, and location showed significant associations in some studies. However, semantic location showed inconsistent results. This suggests that the process of geographical movement is more related to mood changes than to semantic location. Future research must converge across studies on location-data measurement methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: New Approaches)
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12 pages, 755 KiB  
Study Protocol
The Effectiveness of Electrical Vestibular Stimulation (VeNS) on Symptoms of Anxiety: Study Protocol of a Randomized, Double-Blinded, Sham-Controlled Trial
by Teris Cheung, Joyce Yuen Ting Lam, Kwan Hin Fong, Yuen Shan Ho, Alex Ho, Calvin Pak-Wing Cheng, Julie Sittlington, Yu-Tao Xiang and Tim Man Ho Li
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4218; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054218 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2567
Abstract
The prevalence of symptoms of anxiety is increasing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A home use transdermal neurostimulation device might help to minimize the severity of anxiety disorder. To the best of our knowledge, there is no clinical trial using transdermal neurostimulation to [...] Read more.
The prevalence of symptoms of anxiety is increasing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A home use transdermal neurostimulation device might help to minimize the severity of anxiety disorder. To the best of our knowledge, there is no clinical trial using transdermal neurostimulation to treat individuals with symptoms of anxiety in Asia. This gives us the impetus to execute the first study which aims at evaluating the efficacy of Electrical Vestibular Stimulation (VeNS) on anxiety in Hong Kong. This study proposes a two-armed, double-blinded, randomized, sham-controlled trial including the active VeNS and sham VeNS group. Both groups will be measured at baseline (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and at the 1-month (T3) and 3-month follow-up (T4). A total of 66 community-dwelling adults aged 18 to 60 with anxiety symptoms will be recruited in this study. All subjects will be computer randomised into either the active VeNS group or the sham VeNS group in a 1:1 ratio. All subjects in each group will receive twenty 30 min VeNS sessions during weekdays, which will be completed in a 4-week period. Baseline measurements and post-VeNS evaluation of the psychological outcomes (i.e., anxiety, insomnia, and quality of life) will also be conducted on all participants. The 1-month and 3-month follow-up period will be used to assess the long-term sustainability of the VeNS intervention. For statistical analysis, ANOVA with repeated measures will be used to analyze data. Missing data were managed with multiple mutations. The level of significance will be set to p < 0.05. Results of this study will be used to determine whether this VeNS device can be considered as a self-help technological device to reduce perceived anxiety in the general population in the community setting. This clinical Trial was registered with the Clinical Trial government, identifier: NCT04999709. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: New Approaches)
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