According to this researcher, depression isn’t just one type. In fact, there are six types of depression. And by six types, I mean biotypes, which the researcher explains at length in a recent Causes or Cures Podcast.
I was excited to do this podcast because the move towards objective tests in psychiatry will be a gamechanger. Let me share a personal experience: when I was a young medical student, I went to see the school psychiatrist. Within 15 minutes, I was diagnosed with major depression and prescribed antidepressants (Lexapro). To this day, I have no idea if that depression diagnosis made sense. I’m leaning toward it didn’t, because I also had an eating disorder, I wasn’t happy about being in medical school, I was dealing with trauma I never talked about, and I just felt trapped by life circumstances in general. I also had a horrible reaction to the medication (an SSRI): dry mouth; my emotions felt muted-like shoes stuck in gum- and then weeks later…my brain felt detached, like it was orbiting around my body, not attached to it. I specifically remember one moment when I felt like my head was above the rest of me, laughing at me.
Now, I work in public health and applied epidemiology. Recall bias is real. I did not live my life in a vacuum. I’ve carefully avoided labeling my antidepressant as the cause of my symptoms.
That said…I have a strong suspicion that my prescribed antidepressant triggered me into some form of mania or hypomania…whatever you want to call it. Looking back, I made dangerous, stupid decisions that I can’t understand why I made. It was like I was under a spell that I couldn’t break.
Luckily I was able to bounce back from my medication side effect story, but that experience makes me understand firsthand the real need to have some sort of objective tests in psychiatry. Not to discount anyone who has benefitted from antidepressants, but I’m sure there are more people like me out there who took the medication as prescribed and felt utterly up shit’s crick without a paddle (or a head).
In this episode of Causes or Cures, I chat with Dr. Leonardo Tozzi about his research on identifying six unique biotypes for depression. He explains the current problem with the “one size fits all” diagnostic approach to depression, the development of personalized brain circuit scores, and how they led to the discovery of six types of depression. He explains how the identification of unique biotypes for depression may prove to be a gamechanger for how depression is diagnosed and treated in the future, as well as the broader impact and benefits of precision psychiatry.
Dr. Tozzi, MD, PhD is a neuroscientist and researcher who leads the Computational Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Program at the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness.
Despite the current lack of precision, depression is a common diagnosis today, particularly in younger and younger people. Antidepressants are commonly prescribed to treat it. Given those facts, this is an important podcast that I hope reaches a lot of people.
Listen to the six types of depression here!
In addition to the 6 types of depression, check out some of these other Causes or Cures episodes:
Trypophobia– why do some people have an aversion to a group of small holes?!?
Is it better for your mental health to be a night owl or a morning bird? Learn more here!
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