Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly

ID Number 09-0429

Principal Investigator(s)
Charles Kellner

Department(s) or Division(s)
Psychiatry

Description

While advances have been made in the acute treatment of geriatric depression, failure to maintain remission following successful treatment remains a major public health problem. In particular, loss of antidepressant response can result in ongoing functional impairment and increased risk of suicide. This is especially salient for severe and/or treatment resistant illness, even after successful ECT.  The purpose of this study is to determine whether medication alone or medication and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) work best to prevent depressive relapse and to improve quality of life for older patients with severe mood disorders. 

Contact Information
Kristen Tobias
(212) 241-3089
kristen.tobias@mssm.edu

Mimi Briggs
(212) 241-5288
mimi.briggs@mssm.edu

Recruiting Patients: Yes