Treating Depression Now as Simple as a Flick of the Wrist
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iStock/Thinkstock(AUGUSTA, Ga.) — Treating depression isn’t easy but scientists at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University may have come up with an easy way to at least figure out what medications are appropriate for particular patients.
It’s a wristband that records motion over a 24-hour period to determine who is a night owl or a lark, according to W. Vaughn McCall.
Typically, night owls — the people more likely to suffer from major depression — respond better to SSRIs, which are drugs that often have to be taken over many months in constantly changing doses.
On the other hand, if the wristband identifies someone as a “lark,” who has a different sleep pattern, physicians might prescribe drugs other than SSRIs that help these patients readjust their times to slightly later in the day.
Either way, McCall says the simple wristband will give therapists a better understanding of the rest-activity patterns of those suffering from depression in order to decide what drugs to give them.
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