A drug used for Parkinson’s disease has been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of difficult to treat depression.. In the largest clinical trial to date, pramipexole was found to be substantially more effective than a placebo at reducing the symptoms of treatment resistant depression over the course of nearly a year, when added to ongoing antidepressant medication.

Over recent years, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of mental health disorders among young people. Dr Anna Moore, NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration Mission researcher from the University of Cambridge is investigating whether AI can assist in identifying children in greatest need for support and help those who don’t need specialist services find support from elsewhere.

Almost half of patients diagnosed with depression are classified as ‘treatment-resistant,’ according to a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Led by MH-TRC Mission researchers Dr Isabel Morales-Muñoz and Professor Steven Marwaha, the research examined 2461 patients and found that 48% had tried at least two antidepressants, while 37% had tried four or more, highlighting the urgent need for more effective treatment pathways.

Researchers in the Early Psychosis workstream have developed a psychosis risk prediction tool which aims to help GPs detect the early signs of psychosis, potentially reducing the duration of untreated psychosis. The P-risk tool uses information stored in GPs medical records help identify people at risk of developing psychosis and allow for faster referrals for specialist assessment and treatment.

M-RIC has produced a new, short animation to help increase awareness and understanding of the Centre’s work and research plans with local service users and carers, partner organisations and the wider public in Liverpool City Region.

The Mood Disorders workstream,  in collaboration with the ASCEnD trial into bipolar disorder, has set up a national network of NHS mood disorder experts to meet regularly to discuss anonymised patient cases of those experiencing complex and difficult to treat depression (DTD).  This collaboration across the UK provides an opportunity to learn from each other’s expertise, share the latest research and refine treatment approaches with the aim of achieving positive outcomes for patients.

The Capacity Development workstream offers the GROW Researcher Development Programme, a bespoke career development programme open to and designed for MH-TRC early career researchers. The Programme is free to attend and is delivered by the NIHR Incubator for Mental Health Research team with contributions from MH-TRC researchers.

Early Psychosis Informatics into Care (EPICare) is a research database designed to improve individual, local and national clinical decision-making and promote more equitable, timely delivery of psychosis interventions within Early Intervention for Psychosis services in the NHS. The aim of EPICare is to improve patient care and reduce inequalities in care.

ADEPP is a study looking at the use of antidepressant for the prevention of depression following first episode psychosis and aims to find out if an antidepressant medication (sertraline) can help to prevent depression in people who have experienced the condition.