Major depression

Depression is, by far, the leading cause of disability and lost productivity worldwide, with nearly 350 million people suffering from depression globally, many of whom remain untreated.

Treatment efforts have focused on psychotherapy and pharmacological interventions; however, growing evidence indicates that current antidepressant medications fall far short of what is needed to adequately treat depression. Overall, only 35% of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) respond to the first serotonergic antidepressant (1, 2).

Studies examining the sequential use of antidepressants for unresponsive MDD have also produced disappointing results. For example, the STAR-D trials examined antidepressant response in patients unresponsive to a first trial of a serotonergic antidepressant and achieved only a 13% response rate after a sequence of four different antidepressants with multiple mechanisms of action (2, 3).

One limitation of pharmaceutical treatment for depression has been the excessive focus on monoaminergic agents, which affect serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Despite relatively low response rates and significant side effects and risks, monoaminergic agents have remained the mainstay of psychiatry, even in the face of growing evidence that monoaminergic pathways have a limited impact on depression.

Nassir Ghaemi said:

"Psychiatry... uses hundreds of invented labels for professional purposes, without really getting at the reality of what is wrong with the patient... We have an enormous amount of research in neurobiology now to conclude that the neurotransmitter theories of 20th-century psychopharmacology are fundamentally false."

Multi-Watt Near-Infrared Phototherapy for the Treatment of Comorbid Depression:

An Open-Label Single-Arm Study

Theodore A. Henderson1,2,3,4* and Larry D. Morries1

1 Neuro-Laser Foundation, Centennial, CO, United States, 2 The Synaptic Space Inc., Centennial, CO, United States,

3 Neuro-Luminance Inc., Centennial, CO, United States, 4 Dr. Theodore Henderson, Inc., Centennial, CO, United States