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High heterogeneity and low reliability in the diagnosis of major depression will impair the development of new drugs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Samuel M. Lieblich ,
David J. Castle ,
Christos Pantelis ,
Malcolm Hopwood ,
Allan Hunter Young  and
Ian P. Everall
Samuel M. Lieblich*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
David J. Castle
Affiliation:
St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and The University of Melbourne and Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia
Christos Pantelis
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health and Florey Institute for Neuroscience & Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia, and Bedfordshire Centre For Mental Health Research in Association with the University of Cambridge, UK
Malcolm Hopwood
Affiliation:
Professorial Psychiatry Unit, Albert Road Clinic, and University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Allan Hunter Young
Affiliation:
Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK
Ian P. Everall
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
*
Samuel M. Lieblich, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Level: 01 Room: N10023, Main Block, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. Email: samuel.lieblich@unimelb.edu.au
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Summary

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Major depressive disorder is a common diagnosis associated with a high burden of disease that has proven to be highly heterogeneous and unreliable. Treatments currently available demonstrate limited efficacy and effectiveness. New drug development is urgently required but is likely to be hindered by diagnostic limitations.

Information

Type
Editorial
Information
BJPsych Open , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , October 2015 , pp. e5 - e7
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015

Footnotes

Declarations of interest

D.J.C. has received grants and personal fees from Eli Lilly, Janssen-Cilag, Roche, Allergen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Lundbeck, AstraZeneca, Hospira, Organon, Sanofi-Aventis, and Wyeth during the writing of this review. C.P. has received grant support from Janssen-Cilag, Eli Lilly, Hospira (Mayne), AstraZeneca, and received honoraria for consultancy to Janssen-Cilag, Eli Lilly, Hospira (Mayne), AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Schering Plough, and Lundbeck. Over the past 2 years he has participated on advisory boards for Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck, and received honoraria for talks presented at educational meetings organised by AstraZeneca, Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck. M.H. has received personal fees or grants from Lundbeck, AstraZeneca and Servier during the writing of this review. A.H.Y. reports personal fees from Lundbeck, Sunovion, AstraZeneca and Janssen outside the submitted work. I.P.E. has received personal fees or grants from Lundbeck, AstraZeneca, and Abbvie during the writing of this review.

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