AI May Help Predict How Depression Symptoms Respond to Treatment

Imagine mental health care professionals having the ability to reliably predict how a person suffering from depression will respond to certain antidepressant medication based on symptoms and brain wave data, rather than trial and error. Recently, researchers developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that may accelerate precision medicine for depression. In a new study published on June 22 in JAMA Network Open, researchers used machine learning with pretreatment symptom scores and brain wave data to predict which depressive symptoms would improve with antidepressants. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental health condition, affecting an estimated 16 million adults in the United States each year. Fortunately, depression can be treated; unfortunately, however, depression is deeply variegated, with a myriad of possible combinations of symptoms, making pinpointing the right course of treatment a challenge.