Treatment resistance in mental health under the microscope

A person holds a glass of water and tablets.

Treatment resistance is a major issue for people with mental health disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Researchers from the 成人大片 will collaborate with European researchers to better understand and manage treatment resistance for mental health disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The PsychSTRATA study is being led by Professor Bernhard Baune at the University of Muenster in Germany, with 25 research groups across Europe participating in the analysis.

鈥淯p to 60 per cent of people with a mental health disorder have little or no improvement when they are given an initial treatment,鈥 said Associate Professor Oliver Schubert from the 成人大片鈥檚 Discipline of Psychiatry.

鈥淭his can lead to years of trial and error until a suitable treatment is eventually identified.

鈥淭he aim of this project is that every patient presenting with mental illness will be screened for risk of treatment resistance, using the blood tests and other measures identified in the study.

鈥淭his research will potentially lead to faster recovery and better long-term outcomes.鈥

Researchers will explore the biological underpinnings of treatment resistance using genomics and powerful bioinformatics techniques including machine learning.

From this analysis, biomarkers 鈥 such as blood tests 鈥 will be developed that can be used by psychiatrists to predict treatment resistance early and to better guide treatments.

鈥淎s part of PsychSTRATA, we will conduct a trial testing whether earlier access to intensified treatments will lead to faster and more sustained recovery,鈥 said Associate Professor Schubert, who is also the clinical director of the early psychosis program at headspace Adelaide and head of the Northern Community Mental Health continuing care and youth streams at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN).

鈥淭he aim of this project is that every patient presenting with mental illness will be screened for risk of treatment resistance, using the blood tests and other measures identified in the study. This research will potentially lead to faster recovery and better long-term outcomes.鈥Associate Professor Oliver Schubert from the 成人大片鈥檚 Discipline of Psychiatry.


Intensified treatments in the trial include the antipsychotic drug clozapine for schizophrenia, ketamine for major depressive disorder, and combination treatments for bipolar depression.

鈥淚n current clinical guidelines and practice, these treatments are strictly reserved for people who have not benefited from at least two courses of first-line medicines, a process taking many years in many patients.鈥

The Adelaide trial will be co-ordinated by the 成人大片鈥檚 Discipline of Psychiatry.

Treatments will be supervised at the Clinical Trials Unit at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide鈥檚 northern suburbs.

The trial is expected to start midway through next year, and participants can register their interest in early 2023.

The project has been made possible through $498,335 of grant funding from the Australian Government鈥檚 National Health and Medical Research Council鈥檚 EU Collaborative Research Grant Scheme.

The Scheme supports Australian participation in leading international collaborative research under Horizon Europe, the EU鈥檚 key funding program for research and innovation.

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