Research into new and improved treatments for mood disorders, including severe depression, in young people has received $764,709 in funding from the Australian Government, it was announced yesterday.
The funding was awarded through the Medical Research Future Fund Next Generation Researchers fellowship program and will support two researchers from Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health and the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Lianne Schmaal will receive $431,000 to improve treatment of mental illness through a research program that aims to analyse brain scans from people around the world who have been diagnosed with a mood disorder. The major mood disorders are depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Dr Schmaal said the research aimed to better match treatment to individual patients, which could ultimately change the way youth mental health is treated.
“Brain scans, along with clinical and psychosocial measures will be used to build profiles of depression and suicidal behaviours,” Dr Schmaal said.
“This will enable us to develop prediction algorithms to detect not just disease onset but also progression, treatment response and possible suicide attempts.”
Associate Professor Christopher Davey will receive $333,709 to improve treatments for young people with severe depression.
Associate Professor Davey said antidepressant medications and psychotherapy were the most commonly used treatments for depression in young people, although were not always effective,
“We know that young people who experience severe depression are at high-risk of having lifelong difficulties, but with early effective treatments we can alleviate this,” Associate Professor Davey said.
“We really need to develop better treatments for depression, and better predictors about who is likely to benefit from them.”