Our goal is simple and clear: to get more people living with mental illness into remission faster.
Mental illness, specifically major depression, is the single greatest cause of workplace disability in our society today. This presents a huge financial burden and, more importantly, the human cost is enormous. Normal healthy lives are devastated. Families are torn apart. Lives are lost.
We are dealing with a health care problem of epidemic proportions, and with our aging population, it is only going to get worse.
As one of the largest providers of mental health care in Canada, The Royal is here to transform the lives of those living with mental illness with innovative and effective treatments and to identify new methodologies for prevention and early detection. This is being achieved through the continued development of The Royal’s Depression Research Centre. This centre is providing leadership for the roll-out of a pan-Canadian depression research and intervention network.
The Depression Research Centre at The Royal is bringing together world-renowned clinicians, leading-edge science and state-of-the-art technology to provide more accurate diagnosis and faster and more efficient treatment for people with depression. Studies at the Centre have already shown double the remission rates in six weeks for patients with treatment-resistant depression.
As a world-class research institute and one of the largest providers of mental health care in Canada, The Royal is here to transform the lives of those living with mental illness with innovative and effective treatments, and to identify new methods for prevention and early detection.
Experts at The Royal
Dr. Georg Northoff
MD, PhD, is EJLB-CIHR Michael Smith Chair in Neuroscience and Mental Health and holds a prestigious Canada Research Chair for Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR) where he is also Director of the Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Clinical Research Unit.
Dr. Pierre Blier
MD, PhD, Endowed Chair in Mood Disorders and holder of prestigious Canada Research Chair in Psychopharmacology.
Dr. Blier’s research at The Royal has concentrated on using the synergy between pharmaceuticals to achieve faster remission in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
Dr. Jean-Claude Bisserbe
Clinical Director of the Mood Disorders Unit at The Royal. He is championing a comprehensive approach to the clinical characterization of individuals with depression and related co-morbidities, and has developed evidence-based pharmacological and psychological pathways of care.
“Many people diagnosed with a major depression will fail to respond adequately to two medications of different classes,” says Dr. Blier. “About 60 per cent will have a treatment resistant depression. We don’t know very much about the biological basis for this, and we can’t predict who will respond. Right now it’s trial and error.”
“Starting with two anti-depressant medications of different classes has been very successful,” Dr. Blier says. “We have been able to double remission rates in 6 weeks of treatment for these patients. Many of those who had been on long term disability were able to go back to work.”
Diagnosing a mental illness, particularly major depression is extremely complex. Although mental illnesses are caused by alterations in brain functioning, identification of the underlying abnormalities remains difficult as the brain cannot be “probed” as easily as other organs such as the heart or liver.
Using different imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Dr. Georg Northoff is studying the way that the brain functions in patients with depression. His research is developing brain-based diagnostic markers to help physicians make an accurate diagnosis and customize treatment for individual patients.
Recent technological advances, like non-invasive brain imaging, are opening up “windows” to the brain that allow us to look inside and learn more about how and where depression affects the brain. This research can be translated into better care by enabling informed diagnoses based on empirical data.
For both researchers, the Depression Research Centre offers an exciting opportunity for a unique collaboration that integrates pharmacology and braining imaging to treat patients very intensely. “It has never been done at this level before,” says Dr. Blier. “Patients benefit from our double expertise. They get the most up-to-date and effective treatment.”