On taking up space: a qualitative inquiry of depression in older adults with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the phenomenology of depression in older adults with cancer (OACs) in order to improve the accuracy of depression screening for this population. METHOD: Inclusion criteria were: ≥70 years old, history of cancer, no cognitive impairment or severe psychopathology. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, a diagnostic interview, and a qualitative interview. Using a Thematic Content Analysis framework, critical themes, passages, and phrases used by patients to describe their perceptions of depression and how it is experienced were identified. Particular attention was paid to divergences between depressed and non-depressed participants. RESULTS: Among 26 OACs (13 depressed, 13 non-depressed), qualitative analyses revealed four major themes indicative of depression (i.e. anhedonia, reduction in social relationships/loneliness, lack of meaning and purpose, lack of usefulness/feeling like a burden) and four minor themes (i.e. attitude towards treatment, mood, regret/guilt, physical symptoms/limitations). Themes of adaptation and acceptance of symptoms also emerged. CONCLUSIONS: Of the eight themes identified, only two overlap with DSM criteria. This supports the need to develop assessment methods of depression in OACs that are less reliant on DSM criteria and distinct from existing measures. This may improve the ability to identify depression in this population.

Longitudinal Neurocognitive Effects of Combined Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Pharmacotherapy in Major Depressive Disorder in Older Adults: Phase 2 of the PRIDE Study.

OBJECTIVE: There is limited information regarding neurocognitive outcomes of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse width electroconvulsive therapy (RUL-UB ECT) combined with pharmacotherapy in older adults with major depressive disorder. We report longitudinal neurocognitive outcomes from Phase 2 of the Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) study. METHOD: After achieving remission with RUL-UB ECT and venlafaxine, older adults (≥60 years old) were randomized to receive symptom-titrated, algorithm-based longitudinal ECT (STABLE) plus pharmacotherapy (venlafaxine and lithium) or pharmacotherapy-only. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered at baseline and throughout the 6-month treatment period. Statistical significance was defined as a p-value of less than 0.05 (two-sided test). RESULTS: With the exception of processing speed, there was statistically significant improvement across most neurocognitive measures from baseline to 6-month follow-up. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups at 6 months on measures of psychomotor processing speed, autobiographical memory consistency, short-term and long-term verbal memory, phonemic fluency, inhibition, and complex visual scanning and cognitive flexibility. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first report of neurocognitive outcomes over a 6-month period of an acute course of RUL-UB ECT followed by one of 2 strategies to prolong remission in older adults with major depression. Neurocognitive outcome did not differ between STABLE plus pharmacotherapy versus pharmacotherapy alone over the 6-month continuation treatment phase. These findings support the safety of RUL-UB ECT in combination with pharmacotherapy in the prolonging of remission in late-life depression.

Neurocognitive Effects of Combined Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Venlafaxine in Geriatric Depression: Phase 1 of the PRIDE Study.

OBJECTIVE: There is limited information regarding the tolerability of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) combined with pharmacotherapy in elderly adults with major depressive disorder (MDD). Addressing this gap, we report acute neurocognitive outcomes from Phase 1 of the Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) study. METHODS: Elderly adults (age ≥60) with MDD received an acute course of 6 times seizure threshold right unilateral ultrabrief pulse (RUL-UB) ECT. Venlafaxine was initiated during the first treatment week and continued throughout the study. A comprehensive neurocognitive battery was administered at baseline and 72 hours following the last ECT session. Statistical significance was defined as a two-sided p-value of less than 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 240 elderly adults were enrolled. Neurocognitive performance acutely declined post ECT on measures of psychomotor and verbal processing speed, autobiographical memory consistency, short-term verbal recall and recognition of learned words, phonemic fluency, and complex visual scanning/cognitive flexibility. The magnitude of change from baseline to end for most neurocognitive measures was modest. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to characterize the neurocognitive effects of combined RUL-UB ECT and venlafaxine in elderly adults with MDD and provides new evidence for the tolerability of RUL-UB ECT in an elderly sample. Of the cognitive domains assessed, only phonemic fluency, complex visual scanning, and cognitive flexibility qualitatively declined from low average to mildly impaired. While some acute changes in neurocognitive performance were statistically significant, the majority of the indices as based on the effect sizes remained relatively stable.

Individual meaning-centered psychotherapy for the treatment of psychological and existential distress: A randomized controlled trial in patients with advanced cancer.

BACKGROUND: Patients with advanced cancer have high rates of psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and spiritual despair. This study examined the effectiveness of individual meaning-centered psychotherapy (IMCP) in comparison with supportive psychotherapy (SP) and enhanced usual care (EUC) in improving spiritual well-being and quality of life and reducing psychological distress in patients with advanced cancer. METHODS: Patients (n = 321) were randomly assigned to IMCP (n = 109), SP (n = 108), or EUC (n = 104). Assessments were conducted at 4 time points: before intervention, midtreatment (4 weeks), 8 weeks after treatment, and 16 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: Significant treatment effects (small to medium in magnitude) were observed for IMCP, in comparison with EUC, for 5 of 7 outcome variables (quality of life, sense of meaning, spiritual well-being, anxiety, and desire for hastened death), with Cohen's d ranging from 0.1 to 0.34; no significant improvement was observed for patients receiving SP (d < 0.15 and P > .05 for all variables). The effect of IMCP was significantly greater than the effect of SP for quality of life and sense of meaning (d = 0.19) but not for the remaining study variables. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further support for the efficacy of IMCP as a treatment for psychological and existential/spiritual distress in patients with advanced cancer. Significant treatment effects (small to moderate effect sizes) were observed in comparison with usual care, and somewhat more modest differences in improvement (small effect sizes) were observed in comparison with SP. Thus, the benefits of meaning-centered psychotherapy appear to be unique to the intervention and highlight the importance of addressing existential issues with patients approaching the end of life. Cancer 2018. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

Adapting Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for the palliative care setting: Results of a pilot study.

AIMS: To establish preliminary evidence for the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of an abbreviated version of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy tailored to the needs of palliative care patients in the final weeks or months of life. BACKGROUND: Surprisingly, few mental health interventions have specifically targeted the psychological needs of palliative care patients, when physical comfort seems to take precedence over mental health and emotional needs. Yet the need for mental health services targeting these patients is clear, as one in three palliative care patients experience clinically significant depression and an equal proportion experience clinically significant anxiety. DESIGN: This pilot study used an open-label design to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived utility of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy-palliative care, a brief intervention that focuses on enhancing meaning at the end of life. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A total of 12 patients admitted to a palliative care hospital for supportive care consented to participate in the study. RESULTS: Of the 11 patients that began treatment (one patient died before the first session), 8 completed the three-session intervention. Patients expressed positive feedback about the structure, focus, and length of the intervention, but varied in precisely which elements they found most helpful. CONCLUSION: An abbreviated version of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy tailored to the needs of palliative care patients (Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy-palliative care) appears to be feasible, acceptable, and has the potential to help patients better cope with the challenges inherent in confronting death and dying. Further research, with larger and more representative samples, is needed in order to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in patients with advanced cancer: A theory-driven approach.

OBJECTIVE: The diagnosis and treatment of depression are complicated by the presence of a serious medical illness, such as cancer. The role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of depression remains unknown; however, the symptom cluster of sickness behavior is more clearly related to inflammation. Symptom clusters may provide the specificity needed to improve treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study is to use confirmatory factor analysis to examine the construct of sickness behavior in patients with advanced cancer using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). METHOD: Patients (N = 167) were recruited from chemotherapy clinics and the Department of Psychiatry at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Symptoms were a priori delineated using the factor labels sickness behavior and negative affectivity (two-factor model), and affective, cognitive, and sickness behavior (three-factor model). These data were also fit for a more traditional model using affective, cognitive, and somatic factors. RESULTS: The mean total BDI-II score was 14.74 (SD = 8.52; range = 1-46). Fit statistics for all models were good, but the novel three-factor model with sickness behavior provided the best fit: χ2(186) = 273.624; p < 0.001; root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.053; comparative fit index = 0.949. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Both the two- and three-factor models provide support for the unique construct of sickness behavior in patients with advanced cancer. High factor correlations with the BDI-II and other measures of distress were observed, which raises questions about theoretically distinct, but related, constructs.

Depression, cytokines, and pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between cytokines, depression, and pancreatic cancer. METHOD: A total of 75 individuals were recruited from two New York City hospitals (a cancer center and a psychiatric hospital) and composed of four subgroups: patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas who did (n = 17) and did not (n = 26) have a diagnosis of Major Depressive Episode (MDE), and healthy participants with (n = 7) and without (n = 25) MDE. All individuals completed a battery of self-report measures. Sera was assayed using Meso Scale Discovery techniques to measure the following pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines: IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, IFN-gamma, TGF-beta, and TNF-alpha; we also calculated the IL-2/IL-4 ratio. RESULTS: Pancreatic cancer patients had significantly higher levels of IL-6 and IL-10 and significantly lower TGF-beta levels than healthy participants. When the sample was divided into those with and without MDE, the groups only differed with regard to serum IL-6 levels. No significant cancer and depression interaction effect was observed. Severity of depressive symptoms was also significantly correlated with IL-6, rs = 0.28 and p = 0.02, whereas hopelessness was associated with IFN-alpha, rs = 0.34 and p = 0.006. Pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance were associated with several of the cytokines assayed including IL-1beta (pain intensity), IL-4 (pain intensity and overall sleep quality), IL-12p70 (pain intensity), and TGF-beta (fatigue intensity), but anxiety was not associated with any of the cytokines assayed. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated an association between depression and IL-6, but not with other cytokines. Moreover, IL-6 was not significantly associated with other measures of psychological distress (anxiety and hopelessness) or with symptom distress (pain, fatigue, and sleep quality), although some cytokines assayed were associated with specific symptoms. The implications of these findings for the etiology and treatment of depression in pancreatic cancer patients are discussed.

Continuation and maintenance electroconvulsive therapy for mood disorders: review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective treatment for mood disorders. Continuation ECT (C-ECT) and maintenance ECT (M-ECT) are required for many patients suffering from severe and recurrent forms of mood disorders. This is a review of the literature regarding C- and M-ECT. METHODS: We conducted a computerized search using the words continuation ECT, maintenance ECT, depression, mania, bipolar disorder and mood disorders. We report on all articles published in the English language from 1998 to 2009. RESULTS: We identified 32 reports. There were 24 case reports and retrospective reviews on 284 patients. Two of these reports included comparison groups, and 1 had a prospective follow-up in a subset of subjects. There were 6 prospective naturalistic studies and 2 randomized controlled trials. CONCLUSIONS: C-ECT and M-ECT are valuable treatment modalities to prevent relapse and recurrence of mood disorders in patients who have responded to an index course of ECT. C-ECT and M-ECT are underused and insufficiently studied despite positive clinical experience of more than 70 years. Studies which are currently under way should allow more definitive recommendations regarding the choice, frequency and duration of C-ECT and M-ECT following acute ECT.

Tinnitus as a symptom of psychotic depression successfully treated with electroconvulsive therapy.

We present the case of a 51-year-old woman with recurrent major depression with psychotic features including severe tinnitus. Her tinnitus resolved with successful treatment of her depressive episode with electroconvulsive therapy. We review the literature on electroconvulsive therapy and tinnitus.

Resolution of severe suicidality with a single electroconvulsive therapy.

Electroconvulsive therapy is a rapid and effective treatment of severe depression that has been shown to quickly decrease or eliminate suicidal thoughts and behaviors. We describe the case of an 88-year-old man hospitalized for a carefully premeditated suicide attempt with highly lethal means. He was treated with a single electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and improved markedly. His suicidal ideation remitted, and the patient was still free of suicidal ideation at 5 months of follow-up. We discuss the effect of ECT on suicidal ideation, the benefit of minimizing the number of total ECT treatments, and the possible biological markers of change after a single treatment in an ECT-naive patient.

Bifrontal, bitemporal and right unilateral electrode placement in ECT: randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for major depression. Optimising efficacy and minimising cognitive impairment are goals of ongoing technical refinements. AIMS: To compare the efficacy and cognitive effects of a novel electrode placement, bifrontal, with two standard electrode placements, bitemporal and right unilateral in ECT. METHOD: This multicentre randomised, double-blind, controlled trial (NCT00069407) was carried out from 2001 to 2006. A total of 230 individuals with major depression, bipolar and unipolar, were randomly assigned to one of three electrode placements during a course of ECT: bifrontal at one and a half times seizure threshold, bitemporal at one and a half times seizure threshold and right unilateral at six times seizure threshold. RESULTS: All three electrode placements resulted in both clinically and statistically significant antidepressant outcomes. Remission rates were 55% (95% CI 43-66%) with right unilateral, 61% with bifrontal (95% CI 50-71%) and 64% (95% CI 53-75%) with bitemporal. Bitemporal resulted in a more rapid decline in symptom ratings over the early course of treatment. Cognitive data revealed few differences between the electrode placements on a variety of neuropsychological instruments. CONCLUSIONS: Each electrode placement is a very effective antidepressant treatment when given with appropriate electrical dosing. Bitemporal leads to more rapid symptom reduction and should be considered the preferred placement for urgent clinical situations. The cognitive profile of bifrontal is not substantially different from that of bitemporal.

Electrode placement in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): A review of the literature.

Electrode placement in electroconvulsive therapy affects both the efficacy and adverse cognitive effect profile of the treatment. For many years, 2 placements, bitemporal (also referred to as "bifrontotemporal" or simply "bilateral") and right unilateral, were the principal placements in widespread clinical use. More recently, bifrontal placement has joined their ranks as a commonly used placement. In this article, we review the evidence base for the efficacy and safety of each of these electrode placements for the indication of depression, describe another novel placement, and then draw conclusions from this available evidence base, pointing out areas in need of further study.

Electroconvulsive therapy for an urgent social indication.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is often rapidly effective in relieving the symptoms of severe depression. We report the case of a female patient with recurrent depression whose family desperately wanted her to be well enough to participate in her daughter's wedding. They contacted our ECT service only days before the wedding. After a single bifrontal ECT, she was able to attend and enjoy this important family function. We review the literature on speed of response to ECT and the effect of a single ECT.

Right Unilateral Ultrabrief Pulse ECT in Geriatric Depression: Phase 1 of the PRIDE Study.

OBJECTIVE: The Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) study evaluated the efficacy of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) combined with venlafaxine for the treatment of geriatric depression. METHOD: PRIDE was a two-phase multisite study. Phase 1 was an acute course of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse ECT, combined with open-label venlafaxine at seven academic medical centers. In phase 2 (reported separately), patients who had remitted were randomly assigned to receive pharmacotherapy (venlafaxine plus lithium) or pharmacotherapy plus continuation ECT. In phase 1, depressed patients received high-dose ECT (at six times the seizure threshold) three times per week. Venlafaxine was started during the first week of treatment and continued throughout the study. The primary outcome measure was remission, assessed with the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), which was administered three times per week. Secondary outcome measures were post-ECT reorientation and safety. Paired t tests were used to estimate and evaluate the significance of change from baseline in HAM-D scores. RESULTS: Of 240 patients who entered phase 1 of the study, 172 completed it. Overall, 61.7% (148/240) of all patients met remission criteria, 10.0% (24/240) did not remit, and 28.3% (68/240) dropped out; 70% (169/240) met response criteria. Among those who remitted, the mean decrease in HAM-D score was 24.7 points (95% CI=23.4, 25.9), with a mean final score of 6.2 (SD=2.5) and an average change from baseline of 79%. The mean number of ECT treatments to remission was 7.3 (SD=3.1). CONCLUSIONS: Right unilateral ultrabrief pulse ECT, combined with venlafaxine, is a rapidly acting and highly effective treatment option for depressed geriatric patients, with excellent safety and tolerability. These data add to the evidence base supporting the efficacy of ECT to treat severe depression in elderly patients.

A Novel Strategy for Continuation ECT in Geriatric Depression: Phase 2 of the PRIDE Study.

OBJECTIVE: The randomized phase (phase 2) of the Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) study evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of continuation ECT plus medication compared with medication alone in depressed geriatric patients after a successful course of ECT (phase 1). METHOD: PRIDE was a two-phase multisite study. Phase 1 was an acute course of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse ECT, augmented with venlafaxine. Phase 2 compared two randomized treatment arms: a medication only arm (venlafaxine plus lithium, over 24 weeks) and an ECT plus medication arm (four continuation ECT treatments over 1 month, plus additional ECT as needed, using the Symptom-Titrated, Algorithm-Based Longitudinal ECT [STABLE] algorithm, while continuing venlafaxine plus lithium). The intent-to-treat sample comprised 120 remitters from phase 1. The primary efficacy outcome measure was score on the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), and the secondary efficacy outcome was score on the Clinical Global Impressions severity scale (CGI-S). Tolerability as measured by neurocognitive performance (reported elsewhere) was assessed using an extensive test battery; global cognitive functioning as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is reported here. Longitudinal mixed-effects repeated-measures modeling was used to compare ECT plus medication and medication alone for efficacy and global cognitive function outcomes. RESULTS: At 24 weeks, the ECT plus medication group had statistically significantly lower HAM-D scores than the medication only group. The difference in adjusted mean HAM-D scores at study end was 4.2 (95% CI=1.6, 6.9). Significantly more patients in the ECT plus medication group were rated "not ill at all" on the CGI-S compared with the medication only group. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in MMSE score. CONCLUSIONS: Additional ECT after remission (here operationalized as four continuation ECT treatments followed by further ECT only as needed) was beneficial in sustaining mood improvement for most patients.

Measuring sickness behavior in the context of pancreatic cancer.

Sickness behavior has been widely recognized as a symptom cluster that is associated with pro-inflammatory cytokine activation resulting from diverse conditions. The symptoms that comprise sickness behavior overlap substantially with major depressive disorder (MDD), which raises questions about the relationship between these two constructs, both of which occur frequently in patients with cancer. The construct of sickness behavior, while well-established in animal research, has rarely been applied to studies examining cytokines and depression in humans, perhaps because no reliable or validated measure of sickness behavior has been developed. We developed a version of a sickness behavior measure (the Sickness Behavior Inventory or SBI) and conducted a preliminary examination of its scale properties. Specifically, we hypothesized that a measure of sickness behavior would be significantly associated with five biomarkers of immune functioning (serum IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1b, IL-4, IL-10) in a human sample. The sample was comprised of four groups: individuals with pancreatic cancer and MDD (n = 16), individuals with pancreatic cancer and who did not have a diagnosis of MDD (n =2 6), individuals without cancer who had MDD (n = 7), and individuals who did not have cancer or MDD (n = 25). The SBI demonstrated moderate reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .66), and total scores were significantly correlated with IL-6 (rs = .26, p = .03), but not with other markers of immune functioning. Factor analysis supported a 3-factor model of sickness behavior with different associations between the three SBI factors and cytokines. These results highlight the need to further refine symptom measurement to better understand the relationships among immune functioning, cancer, depression, and sickness behavior.

Cognitive tolerability of electroconvulsive therapy in a patient with a history of traumatic brain injury.

We present the case of a 28-year-old male with a history of a severe closed head injury who successfully underwent electroconvulsive therapy for treatment of his depression. A detailed neuropsychological evaluation demonstrated the cognitive tolerability of the treatment. We review the literature on electroconvulsive therapy and brain injury.