The DOI matches its Crossref record; 90 of the 90 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Personalized Medicine for Depression: Can We Match Patients With Treatments?
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Response to specific depression treatments varies widely among individuals. Understanding and predicting that variation could have great benefits for people living with depression. METHOD: The authors describe a conceptual model for identifying and evaluating evidence relevant to personalizing treatment for depression. They review evidence related to three specific treatment decisions: choice between antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, selection of a specific antidepressant medication, and selection of a specific psychotherapy. They then discuss potential explanations for negative findings as well as implications for research and clinical practice. RESULTS: Many previous studies have examined general predictors of outcome, but few have examined true moderators (predictors of differential response to alternative treatments). The limited evidence indicates that some specific clinical characteristics may inform the choice between antidepressant medication and psychotherapy and the choice of specific antidepressant medication. Research to date does not identify any biologic or genetic predictors of sufficient clinical utility to inform the choice between medication and psychotherapy, the selection of specific medication, or the selection of a specific psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: While individuals vary widely in response to specific depression treatments, the variability remains largely unpredictable. Future research should focus on identifying true moderator effects and should consider how response to treatments varies across episodes. At this time, our inability to match patients with treatments implies that systematic follow-up assessment and adjustment of treatment are more important than initial treatment selection.
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“Psychological treatments benefit men and women to the same extent; psychological treatments are equally suitable for individuals of all ages, levels of education, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds.9”
From Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder (2016) · cites this paper as [9]
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“Psychological treatments in general and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in particular appear to be equally effective for different subtypes of depression, including atypical depression, melancholic depression, and anxious depression.9,10”
From Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder (2016) · cites this paper as [9]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“It has been estimated that only 12 to 34% of people in routine outpatient care are eligible for participation in a pharmacotherapy trial: others are ineligible because of comorbidities or failing to meet the minimum severity threshold. 588”
From Time for united action on depression: a Lancet–World Psychiatric Association Commission (2022) · cites this paper as [588]
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Personalized Medicine for Depression: Can We Match Patients With Treatments?
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“It is Due to these limitations, the identification of the subset of MDD patients with TRD may be an impediment not only to the advancement of research in TRD, but also to timely referral and treatment for individuals with this condition (Chopra et al., 2023; Simon, 2010).”
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A Review of Related Research on Clinical Subtypes of Depression
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Picking Antidepressants—Patient Preferences Beat Biomarkers
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“…highly person-alised treatment approach based on complex and interacting changes in response, acceptability and tolerability (cipriani et al., 2018; simon & Perlis, 2010; tang et al., 2025). it is no surprise that the choice of therapy is essential and unique for each patient, given the variety of…”
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“Gaining a deeper understanding of MDD to better assess and monitor key underlying mechanisms of the disorder may help to personalize and further optimize treatment [9].”
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“Consequently, predictors and moderators for differential treatment success should be identified (Simon & Perlis, 2010; Kazdin, 2007, 2009) to reduce individual suffering, time, and direct and indirect costs.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Simon, G. E., & Perlis, R. H.
- Affiliations
- Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 167
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1445-1455
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- PMC
- PMC3723328
- OpenAlex
- W2148933229
- Semantic Scholar
- ca7063c77ba1833df2d5629f27cb2392af0da971
- Cited by
- 365
- References
- 89
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 1.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eli Lilly and Company
- National Institute of Mental Health (P20MH068572, R01MH085930, R01MH086026)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- depression, personalized medicine, treatment response variability, antidepressants, psychotherapy, treatment selection, treatment moderators, predictors of treatment outcome, genetic predictors, treatment modification
- MeSH terms
- Antidepressive Agents, Clinical Trials as Topic, Decision Support Techniques, Depression, Humans, Psychotherapy, Precision Medicine
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