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7 Depression Research Paper Topic Ideas

Nancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be.

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

In psychology classes, it's common for students to write a depression research paper. Researching depression may be beneficial if you have a personal interest in this topic and want to learn more, or if you're simply passionate about this mental health issue. However, since depression is a very complex subject, it offers many possible topics to focus on, which may leave you wondering where to begin.

If this is how you feel, here are a few research titles about depression to help inspire your topic choice. You can use these suggestions as actual research titles about depression, or you can use them to lead you to other more in-depth topics that you can look into further for your depression research paper.

What Is Depression?

Everyone experiences times when they feel a little bit blue or sad. This is a normal part of being human. Depression, however, is a medical condition that is quite different from everyday moodiness.

Your depression research paper may explore the basics, or it might delve deeper into the  definition of clinical depression  or the  difference between clinical depression and sadness .

What Research Says About the Psychology of Depression

Studies suggest that there are biological, psychological, and social aspects to depression, giving you many different areas to consider for your research title about depression.

Types of Depression

There are several different types of depression  that are dependent on how an individual's depression symptoms manifest themselves. Depression symptoms may vary in severity or in what is causing them. For instance, major depressive disorder (MDD) may have no identifiable cause, while postpartum depression is typically linked to pregnancy and childbirth.

Depressive symptoms may also be part of an illness called bipolar disorder. This includes fluctuations between depressive episodes and a state of extreme elation called mania. Bipolar disorder is a topic that offers many research opportunities, from its definition and its causes to associated risks, symptoms, and treatment.

Causes of Depression

The possible causes of depression are many and not yet well understood. However, it most likely results from an interplay of genetic vulnerability  and environmental factors. Your depression research paper could explore one or more of these causes and reference the latest research on the topic.

For instance, how does an imbalance in brain chemistry or poor nutrition relate to depression? Is there a relationship between the stressful, busier lives of today's society and the rise of depression? How can grief or a major medical condition lead to overwhelming sadness and depression?

Who Is at Risk for Depression?

This is a good research question about depression as certain risk factors may make a person more prone to developing this mental health condition, such as a family history of depression, adverse childhood experiences, stress , illness, and gender . This is not a complete list of all risk factors, however, it's a good place to start.

The growing rate of depression in children, teenagers, and young adults is an interesting subtopic you can focus on as well. Whether you dive into the reasons behind the increase in rates of depression or discuss the treatment options that are safe for young people, there is a lot of research available in this area and many unanswered questions to consider.

Depression Signs and Symptoms

The signs of depression are those outward manifestations of the illness that a doctor can observe when they examine a patient. For example, a lack of emotional responsiveness is a visible sign. On the other hand, symptoms are subjective things about the illness that only the patient can observe, such as feelings of guilt or sadness.

An illness such as depression is often invisible to the outside observer. That is why it is very important for patients to make an accurate accounting of all of their symptoms so their doctor can diagnose them properly. In your depression research paper, you may explore these "invisible" symptoms of depression in adults or explore how depression symptoms can be different in children .

How Is Depression Diagnosed?

This is another good depression research topic because, in some ways, the diagnosis of depression is more of an art than a science. Doctors must generally rely upon the patient's set of symptoms and what they can observe about them during their examination to make a diagnosis. 

While there are certain  laboratory tests that can be performed to rule out other medical illnesses as a cause of depression, there is not yet a definitive test for depression itself.

If you'd like to pursue this topic, you may want to start with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The fifth edition, known as DSM-5, offers a very detailed explanation that guides doctors to a diagnosis. You can also compare the current model of diagnosing depression to historical methods of diagnosis—how have these updates improved the way depression is treated?

Treatment Options for Depression

The first choice for depression treatment is generally an antidepressant medication. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most popular choice because they can be quite effective and tend to have fewer side effects than other types of antidepressants.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is another effective and common choice. It is especially efficacious when combined with antidepressant therapy. Certain other treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), are most commonly used for patients who do not respond to more common forms of treatment.

Focusing on one of these treatments is an option for your depression research paper. Comparing and contrasting several different types of treatment can also make a good research title about depression.

A Word From Verywell

The topic of depression really can take you down many different roads. When making your final decision on which to pursue in your depression research paper, it's often helpful to start by listing a few areas that pique your interest.

From there, consider doing a little preliminary research. You may come across something that grabs your attention like a new study, a controversial topic you didn't know about, or something that hits a personal note. This will help you narrow your focus, giving you your final research title about depression.

Remes O, Mendes JF, Templeton P. Biological, psychological, and social determinants of depression: A review of recent literature . Brain Sci . 2021;11(12):1633. doi:10.3390/brainsci11121633

National Institute of Mental Health. Depression .

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition . American Psychiatric Association.

National Institute of Mental Health. Mental health medications .

Ferri, F. F. (2019). Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2020 E-Book: 5 Books in 1 . Netherlands: Elsevier Health Sciences.

By Nancy Schimelpfening Nancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be.  

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• Published: 18 June 2020

Advances in depression research: second special issue, 2020, with highlights on biological mechanisms, clinical features, co-morbidity, genetics, imaging, and treatment

• Julio Licinio 1 &
• Ma-Li Wong 1  

Molecular Psychiatry volume  25 ,  pages 1356–1360 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The current speed of progress in depression research is simply remarkable. We have therefore been able to create a second special issue of Molecular Psychiatry , 2020, focused on depression, with highlights on mechanisms, genetics, clinical features, co-morbidity, imaging, and treatment. We are also very proud to present in this issue a seminal paper by Chottekalapanda et al., which represents some of the last work conducted by the late Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard [ 1 ]. This brings to four the number of papers co-authored by Paul Greengard and published in our two 2020 depression special issues [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ].

The research content of this special depression issue starts with Chottekalapanda et al.’s outstanding contribution aimed at determining whether neuroadaptive processes induced by antidepressants are modulated by the regulation of specific gene expression programs [ 1 ]. That team identified a transcriptional program regulated by activator protein-1 (AP-1) complex, formed by c-Fos and c-Jun that is selectively activated prior to the onset of the chronic SSRI response. The AP-1 transcriptional program modulated the expression of key neuronal remodeling genes, including S100a10 (p11), linking neuronal plasticity to the antidepressant response. Moreover, they found that AP-1 function is required for the antidepressant effect in vivo. Furthermore, they demonstrated how neurochemical pathways of BDNF and FGF2, through the MAPK, PI3K, and JNK cascades, regulate AP-1 function to mediate the beneficial effects of the antidepressant response. This newly identified molecular network provides “a new avenue that could be used to accelerate or potentiate antidepressant responses by triggering neuroplasticity.”

A superb paper by Schouten et al. showed that oscillations of glucocorticoid hormones (GC) preserve a population of adult hippocampal neural stem cells in the aging brain [ 5 ]. Moreover, major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by alterations in GC-related rhythms [ 6 , 7 ]. GC regulate neural stem/precursor cells (NSPC) proliferation [ 8 , 9 ]. The adrenals secrete GC in ultradian pulses that result in a circadian rhythm. GC oscillations control cell cycle progression and induce specific genome-wide DNA methylation profiles. Schouten et al. studied primary hippocampal NSPC cultures and showed that GC oscillations induced lasting changes in the methylation state of a group of gene promoters associated with cell cycle regulation and the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. Furthermore, in a mouse model of accelerated aging, they showed that disruption of GC oscillations induced lasting changes in dendritic complexity, spine numbers and morphology of newborn granule neurons. Their results indicate that GC oscillations preserve a population of GR-expressing NSPC during aging, preventing their activation possibly by epigenetic programming through methylation of specific gene promoters. These important observations suggest a novel mechanism mediated by GC that controls NSPC proliferation and preserves a dormant NSPC pool, possibly contributing to neuroplasticity reserve in the aging brain.

MDD has a critical interface with addiction and suicide, which is of immense clinical and research importance [ 10 ]. Peciña et al. have reviewed a growing body of research indicating that the endogenous opioid system is directly involved in the regulation of mood and is dysregulated in MDD [ 11 ]. Halikere et al. provide evidence that addiction associated N40D mu-opioid receptor variant modulates synaptic function in human neurons [ 12 ].

Two papers by Amare et al. and Coleman et al. examine different genetic substrates for MDD, identifying novel depression-related loci as well as studying the interface with trauma [ 13 , 14 ].

The dissection of MDD clinical phenotypes, including their interface with other illnesses is a topic of several articles in this special issue. Belvederi Murri et al. examined the symptom network structure of depressive symptoms in late-life in a large European population in the 19 country Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (mean age 74 years, 59% females, n  = 8557) [ 15 ]. They showed that the highest values of centrality were in the symptoms of death wishes, depressed mood, loss of interest, and pessimism. Another article focused on a specific feature of MDD, namely changes in appetite. Simmons et al. aimed at explaining why some individuals lose their appetite when they become depressed, while others eat more, and brought together data on neuroimaging, salivary cortisol, and blood markers of inflammation and metabolism [ 16 ]. Depressed participants experiencing decreased appetite had higher cortisol levels than other subjects, and their cortisol values correlated inversely with the ventral striatal response to food cues. In contrast, depressed participants experiencing increased appetite exhibited marked immunometabolic dysregulation, with higher insulin, insulin resistance, leptin, c-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), and IL-6, and lower ghrelin than subjects in other groups, and the magnitude of their insulin resistance correlated positively with the insula response to food cues. Their findings support the existence of pathophysiologically distinct depression subtypes for which the direction of appetite change may be an easily measured behavioral marker.

Mulugeta et al. studied the association between major depressive disorder and multiple disease outcomes in the UK Biobank ( n  = 337,536) [ 17 ]. They performed hypothesis-free phenome-wide association analyses between MDD genetic risk score (GRS) and 925 disease outcomes. MDD was associated with several inflammatory and hemorrhagic gastrointestinal diseases, and intestinal E. coli infections. MDD was also associated with disorders of lipid metabolism and ischemic heart disease. Their results indicated a causal link between MDD and a broad range of diseases, suggesting a notable burden of co-morbidity. The authors concluded that “early detection and management of MDD is important, and treatment strategies should be selected to also minimize the risk of related co-morbidities.” Further information on the shared mechanisms between coronary heart disease and depression in the UK Biobank ( n  = 367,703) was explored by Khandaker et al. [ 18 ]. They showed that family history of heart disease was associated with a 20% increase in depression risk; however, a genetic risk score that is strongly associated with CHD risk was not associated with depression. Their data indicate that comorbidity between depression and CHD arises largely from shared environmental factors.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies, Wang et al. examined the interface of depression and anxiety in relation to cancer incidence and mortality [ 19 ]. Their analyses suggest that depression and anxiety may have an etiologic role and prognostic impact on cancer, although there is potential reverse causality.

Several papers in this issue examine imaging in MDD, either to unravel the underlying disease processes or to identify imaging biomarkers of treatment response. Let us first look at the studies focused on elucidating brain circuitry alterations in MDD. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) was used by Cooper et al. to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF; perfusion) in order to discover and replicate alterations in CBF in MDD [ 20 ]. Their analyses revealed reduced relative CBF (rCBF) in the right parahippocampus, thalamus, fusiform, and middle temporal gyri, as well as the left and right insula, for those with MDD. They also revealed increased rCBF in MDD in both the left and the right inferior parietal lobule, including the supramarginal and angular gyri. According to the authors, “these results (1) provide reliable evidence for ASL in detecting differences in perfusion for multiple brain regions thought to be important in MDD, and (2) highlight the potential role of using perfusion as a biosignature of MDD.” Further data on imaging in MDD was provided by a coordinated analysis across 20 international cohorts in the ENIGMA MDD working group. In that paper, van Velzen et al. showed that in a coordinated and harmonized multisite diffusion tensor imaging study there were subtle, but widespread differences in white matter microstructure in adult MDD, which may suggest structural disconnectivity [ 21 ].

Four articles in this special issue examine imaging biomarkers of treatment response. Greenberg et al. studied reward-related ventral striatal activity and differential response to sertraline versus placebo in depressed using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a reward task [ 22 ]. They found that ventral striatum (VS) dynamic response to reward expectancy (expected outcome value) and prediction error (difference between expected and actual outcome), likely reflecting serotonergic and dopaminergic deficits, was associated with better response to sertraline than placebo. Their conclusion was that treatment measures of reward-related VS activity may serve as objective neural markers to advance efforts to personalize interventions by guiding individual-level choice of antidepressant treatment. Utilizing whole-brain functional connectivity analysis to identify neural signatures of remission following antidepressant treatment, and to identify connectomic predictors of treatment response, Korgaonkar et al. showed that intrinsic connectomes are a predictive biomarker of remission in major depressive disorder [ 23 ]. Based on their results that team proposed that increased functional connectivity within and between large-scale intrinsic brain networks may characterize acute recovery with antidepressants in depression. Repple et al. created connectome matrices via a combination of T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tractography methods based on diffusion-weighted imaging severity of current depression and remission status in 464 MDD patients and 432 healthy controls [ 24 ]. Reduced global fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed specifically in acute depressed patients compared to fully remitted patients and healthy controls. Within the MDD patients, FA in a subnetwork including frontal, temporal, insular, and parietal nodes was negatively associated with symptom intensity, an effect remaining when correcting for lifetime disease severity. Their findings provide new evidence of MDD to be associated with structural, yet dynamic, state-dependent connectome alterations, which covary with current disease severity and remission status after a depressive episode. The effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the most effective treatment for depression, on the dentate gyrus (DG) were studied by Nuninga et al. through an optimized MRI scan at 7-tesla field strength, allowing sensitive investigation of hippocampal subfields [ 25 , 26 ]. They documented a large and significant increase in DG volume after ECT, while other hippocampal subfields were unaffected. Furthermore, an increase in DG volume was related to a decrease in depression scores, and baseline DG volume predicted clinical response. These findings suggest that the volume change of the DG is related to the antidepressant properties of ECT, possibly reflecting neurogenesis.

Three articles report new directions for antidepressant therapeutics. Papakostas et al. presented the results of a promising phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of NSI-189 phosphate, a novel neurogenic compound, in MDD patients [ 27 ]. As the endogenous opioid system is thought to play an important role in the regulation of mood, Fava et al. studied the buprenorphine/samidorphan combination as an investigational opioid system modulator for adjunctive treatment of MDD in two phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that utilized the same sequential parallel-comparison design [ 28 ]. One of the studies achieved the primary endpoint, namely change from baseline in Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)-10 at week 5 versus placebo) and the other study did not achieve the primary endpoint. However, the pooled analysis of the two studies demonstrated consistently greater reduction in the MADRS-10 scores from baseline versus placebo at multiple timepoints, including end of treatment. These data provide cautious optimism and support further controlled trials for this potential new treatment option for patients with MDD who have an inadequate response to currently available antidepressants. Fava et al. also report the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial of intravenous (IV) ketamine as adjunctive therapy in treatment-resistant depression, using four doses of ketamine and a control [ 29 , 30 ]. They show that there was evidence for the efficacy of the two higher doses of IV ketamine and no clear or consistent evidence for clinically meaningful efficacy of the two lower doses studied.

Overall, in this issue, immense progress in depression research is provided by outstanding studies that highlight advances in our understanding of MDD biology, clinical features, co-morbidity, genetics, brain imaging (including imaging biomarkers), and treatment. Building on the groundbreaking articles from our previous 2020 special issues on stress and behavior [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] and on depression [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ], we are proud that the stunning progress presented here found its home in our pages. From inception in 1996, we have aimed at making Molecular Psychiatry promote the integration of molecular medicine and clinical psychiatry [ 63 ]. It is particularly rewarding to see that goal achieved so spectacularly in this second 2020 special issue on MDD, a disorder of gene-environment interactions that represents a pressing public health challenge, with an ever increasing impact on society [ 64 , 65 , 66 ]. We are privileged to have in these two 2020 depression special issues four remarkable papers from Paul Greengard’s teams that provide substantial new data on the mechanisms of antidepressant action [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Such profound advances in basic science are needed to facilitate and guide future translational efforts needed to advance therapeutics [ 67 , 68 ].

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Licinio, J., Wong, ML. Advances in depression research: second special issue, 2020, with highlights on biological mechanisms, clinical features, co-morbidity, genetics, imaging, and treatment. Mol Psychiatry 25 , 1356–1360 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-0798-1

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An Exploratory Study of Students with Depression in Undergraduate Research Experiences

• Katelyn M. Cooper
• Logan E. Gin
• M. Elizabeth Barnes
• Sara E. Brownell

*Address correspondence to: Katelyn M. Cooper ( E-mail Address: [email protected] ).

Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816

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Biology Education Research Lab, Research for Inclusive STEM Education Center, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281

Depression is a top mental health concern among undergraduates and has been shown to disproportionately affect individuals who are underserved and underrepresented in science. As we aim to create a more inclusive scientific community, we argue that we need to examine the relationship between depression and scientific research. While studies have identified aspects of research that affect graduate student depression, we know of no studies that have explored the relationship between depression and undergraduate research. In this study, we sought to understand how undergraduates’ symptoms of depression affect their research experiences and how research affects undergraduates’ feelings of depression. We interviewed 35 undergraduate researchers majoring in the life sciences from 12 research-intensive public universities across the United States who identify with having depression. Using inductive and deductive coding, we identified that students’ depression affected their motivation and productivity, creativity and risk-taking, engagement and concentration, and self-perception and socializing in undergraduate research experiences. We found that students’ social connections, experiencing failure in research, getting help, receiving feedback, and the demands of research affected students’ depression. Based on this work, we articulate an initial set of evidence-based recommendations for research mentors to consider in promoting an inclusive research experience for students with depression.

INTRODUCTION

Depression is described as a common and serious mood disorder that results in persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, as well as a loss of interest in activities that one once enjoyed ( American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013 ). Additional symptoms of depression include weight changes, difficulty sleeping, loss of energy, difficulty thinking or concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, and suicidality ( APA, 2013 ). While depression results from a complex interaction of psychological, social, and biological factors ( World Health Organization, 2018 ), studies have shown that increased stress caused by college can be a significant contributor to student depression ( Dyson and Renk, 2006 ).

Depression is one of the top undergraduate mental health concerns, and the rate of depression among undergraduates continues to rise ( Center for Collegiate Mental Health, 2017 ). While we cannot discern whether these increasing rates of depression are due to increased awareness or increased incidence, it is clear that is a serious problem on college campuses. The percent of U.S. college students who self-reported a diagnosis with depression was recently estimated to be about 25% ( American College Health Association, 2019 ). However, higher rates have been reported, with one study estimating that up to 84% of undergraduates experience some level of depression ( Garlow et al. , 2008 ). Depression rates are typically higher among university students compared with the general population, despite being a more socially privileged group ( Ibrahim et al. , 2013 ). Prior studies have found that depression is negatively correlated with overall undergraduate academic performance ( Hysenbegasi et al. , 2005 ; Deroma et al. , 2009 ; American College Health Association, 2019 ). Specifically, diagnosed depression is associated with half a letter grade decrease in students’ grade point average ( Hysenbegasi et al. , 2005 ), and 21.6% of undergraduates reported that depression negatively affected their academic performance within the last year ( American College Health Association, 2019 ). Provided with a list of academic factors that may be affected by depression, students reported that depression contributed to lower exam grades, lower course grades, and not completing or dropping a course.

Students in the natural sciences may be particularly at risk for depression, given that such majors are noted to be particularly stressful due to their competitive nature and course work that is often perceived to “weed students out”( Everson et al. , 1993 ; Strenta et al. , 1994 ; American College Health Association, 2019 ; Seymour and Hunter, 2019 ). Science course instruction has also been described to be boring, repetitive, difficult, and math-intensive; these factors can create an environment that can trigger depression ( Seymour and Hewitt, 1997 ; Osborne and Collins, 2001 ; Armbruster et al ., 2009 ; Ceci and Williams, 2010 ). What also distinguishes science degree programs from other degree programs is that, increasingly, undergraduate research experiences are being proposed as an essential element of a science degree ( American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011 ; President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012 ; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2017 ). However, there is some evidence that undergraduate research experiences can add to the stress of college for some students ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ). Students can garner multiple benefits from undergraduate research, including enhanced abilities to think critically ( Ishiyama, 2002 ; Bauer and Bennett, 2003 ; Brownell et al. , 2015 ), improved student learning ( Rauckhorst et al. , 2001 ; Brownell et al. , 2015 ), and increased student persistence in undergraduate science degree programs ( Jones et al. , 2010 ; Hernandez et al. , 2018 ). Notably, undergraduate research experiences are increasingly becoming a prerequisite for entry into medical and graduate programs in science, particularly elite programs ( Cooper et al. , 2019d ). Although some research experiences are embedded into formal lab courses as course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs; Auchincloss et al. , 2014 ; Brownell and Kloser, 2015 ), the majority likely entail working with faculty in their research labs. These undergraduate research experiences in faculty labs are often added on top of a student’s normal course work, so they essentially become an extracurricular activity that they have to juggle with course work, working, and/or personal obligations ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ). While the majority of the literature surrounding undergraduate research highlights undergraduate research as a positive experience ( NASEM, 2017 ), studies have demonstrated that undergraduate research experiences can be academically and emotionally challenging for students ( Mabrouk and Peters, 2000 ; Seymour et al. , 2004 ; Cooper et al. , 2019c ; Limeri et al. , 2019 ). In fact, 50% of students sampled nationally from public R1 institutions consider leaving their undergraduate research experience prematurely, and about half of those students, or 25% of all students, ultimately leave their undergraduate research experience ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ). Notably, 33.8% of these individuals cited a negative lab environment and 33.3% cited negative relationships with their mentors as factors that influenced their decision about whether to leave ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ). Therefore, students’ depression may be exacerbated in challenging undergraduate research experiences, because studies have shown that depression is positively correlated with student stress ( Hish et al. , 2019 ).

While depression has not been explored in the context of undergraduate research experiences, depression has become a prominent concern surrounding graduate students conducting scientific research. A recent study that examined the “graduate student mental health crisis” ( Flaherty, 2018 ) found that work–life balance and graduate students’ relationships with their research advisors may be contributing to their depression ( Evans et al. , 2018 ). Specifically, this survey of 2279 PhD and master’s students from diverse fields of study, including the biological/physical sciences, showed that 39% of graduate students have experienced moderate to severe depression. Fifty-five percent of the graduate students with depression who were surveyed disagreed with the statement “I have good work life balance,” compared to only 21% of students with depression who agreed. Additionally, the study highlighted that more students with depression disagreed than agreed with the following statements: their advisors provided “real” mentorship, their advisors provided ample support, their advisors positively impacted their emotional or mental well-being, their advisors were assets to their careers, and they felt valued by their mentors. Another recent study identified that depression severity in biomedical doctoral students was significantly associated with graduate program climate, a perceived lack of employment opportunities, and the quality of students’ research training environment ( Nagy et al. , 2019 ). Environmental stress, academic stress, and family and monetary stress have also been shown to be predictive of depression severity in biomedical doctoral students ( Hish et al. , 2019 ). Further, one study found that self-esteem is negatively correlated and stress is positively correlated with graduate student depression; presumably research environments that challenge students’ self-esteem and induce stress are likely contributing to depressive symptoms among graduate students ( Kreger, 1995 ). While these studies have focused on graduate students, and there are certainly notable distinctions between graduate and undergraduate research, the research-related factors that affect graduate student depression, including work–life balance, relationships with mentors, research environment, stress, and self-esteem, may also be relevant to depression among undergraduates conducting research. Importantly, undergraduates in the United States have reported identical levels of depression as graduate students but are often less likely to seek mental health care services ( Wyatt and Oswalt, 2013 ), which is concerning if undergraduate research experiences exacerbate depression.

Based on the literature on the stressors of undergraduate research experiences and the literature identifying some potential causes of graduate student depression, we identified three aspects of undergraduate research that may exacerbate undergraduates’ depression. Mentoring: Mentors can be an integral part of a students’ research experience, bolstering their connections with others in the science community, scholarly productivity, and science identity, as well as providing many other benefits ( Thiry and Laursen, 2011 ; Prunuske et al. , 2013 ; Byars-Winston et al. , 2015 ; Aikens et al. , 2016 , 2017 ; Thompson et al. , 2016 ; Estrada et al. , 2018 ). However, recent literature has highlighted that poor mentoring can negatively affect undergraduate researchers ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ; Limeri et al. , 2019 ). Specifically, one study of 33 undergraduate researchers who had conducted research at 10 institutions identified seven major ways that they experienced negative mentoring, which included absenteeism, abuse of power, interpersonal mismatch, lack of career support, lack of psychosocial support, misaligned expectations, and unequal treatment ( Limeri et al. , 2019 ). We hypothesize negative mentoring experiences may be particularly harmful for students with depression, because support, particularly social support, has been shown to be important for helping individuals with depression cope with difficult circumstances ( Aneshensel and Stone, 1982 ; Grav et al. , 2012 ). Failure: Experiencing failure has been hypothesized to be an important aspect of undergraduate research experiences that may help students develop some the most distinguishing abilities of outstanding scientists, such as coping with failure, navigating challenges, and persevering ( Laursen et al. , 2010 ; Gin et al. , 2018 ; Henry et al. , 2019 ). However, experiencing failure and the stress and fatigue that often accompany it may be particularly tough for students with depression ( Aldwin and Greenberger, 1987 ; Mongrain and Blackburn, 2005 ). Lab environment: Fairness, inclusion/exclusion, and social support within one’s organizational environment have been shown to be key factors that cause people to either want to remain in the work place and be productive or to want to leave ( Barak et al. , 2006 ; Cooper et al. , 2019c ). We hypothesize that dealing with exclusion or a lack of social support may exacerbate depression for some students; patients with clinical depression react to social exclusion with more pronounced negative emotions than do individuals without clinical depression ( Jobst et al. , 2015 ). While there are likely other aspects of undergraduate research that affect student depression, we hypothesize that these factors have the potential to exacerbate negative research experiences for students with depression.

Depression has been shown to disproportionately affect many populations that are underrepresented or underserved within the scientific community, including females ( American College Health Association, 2018 ; Evans et al. , 2018 ), first-generation college students ( Jenkins et al. , 2013 ), individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds ( Eisenberg et al. , 2007 ), members of the LGBTQ+ community ( Eisenberg et al. , 2007 ; Evans et al. , 2018 ), and people with disabilities ( Turner and Noh, 1988 ). Therefore, as the science community strives to be more diverse and inclusive ( Intemann, 2009 ), it is important that we understand more about the relationship between depression and scientific research, because negative experiences with depression in scientific research may be contributing to the underrepresentation of these groups. Specifically, more information is needed about how the research process and environment of research experiences may affect depression.

Given the high rate of depression among undergraduates, the links between depression and graduate research, the potentially challenging environment of undergraduate research, and how depression could disproportionately impact students from underserved communities, it is imperative to begin to explore the relationship between scientific research and depression among undergraduates to create research experiences that could maximize student success. In this exploratory interview study, we aimed to 1) describe how undergraduates’ symptoms of depression affect their research experiences, 2) understand how undergraduate research affects students’ feelings of depression, and 3) identify recommendations based on the literature and undergraduates’ reported experiences to promote a positive research experience for students with depression.

This study was done with an approved Arizona State University Institutional Review Board protocol #7247.

In Fall 2018, we surveyed undergraduate researchers majoring in the life sciences across 25 research-intensive (R1) public institutions across the United States (specific details about the recruitment of the students who completed the survey can be found in Cooper et al. (2019c) ). The survey asked students for their opinions about their undergraduate research experiences and their demographic information and whether they would be interested in participating in a follow-up interview related to their research experiences. For the purpose of this study, we exclusively interviewed students about their undergraduate research experiences in faculty member labs; we did not consider students’ experiences in CUREs. Of the 768 undergraduate researchers who completed the survey, 65% ( n = 496) indicated that they would be interested in participating in a follow-up interview. In Spring 2019, we emailed the 496 students, explaining that we were interested in interviewing students with depression about their experiences in undergraduate research. Our specific prompt was: “If you identify as having depression, we would be interested in hearing about your experience in undergraduate research in a 30–60 minute online interview.” We did not define depression in our email recruitment because we conducted think-aloud interviews with four undergraduates who all correctly interpreted what we meant by depression ( APA, 2013 ). We had 35 students agree to participate in the interview study. The interview participants represented 12 of the 25 R1 public institutions that were represented in the initial survey.

Student Interviews

We developed an interview script to explore our research questions. Specifically, we were interested in how students’ symptoms of depression affect their research experiences, how undergraduate research negatively affects student depression, and how undergraduate research positively affects student depression.

We recognized that mental health, and specifically depression, can be a sensitive topic to discuss with undergraduates, and therefore we tried to minimize any discomfort that the interviewees might experience during the interview. Specifically, we conducted think-aloud interviews with three graduate students who self-identified with having depression at the time of the interview. We asked them to note whether any interview questions made them uncomfortable. We also sought their feedback on questions given their experiences as persons with depression who had once engaged in undergraduate research. We revised the interview protocol after each think-aloud interview. Next, we conducted four additional think-aloud interviews with undergraduates conducting basic science or biology education research who identified with having depression to establish cognitive validity of the questions and to elicit additional feedback about any questions that might make someone uncomfortable. The questions were revised after each think-aloud interview until no question was unclear or misinterpreted by the students and we were confident that the questions minimized students’ potential discomfort ( Trenor et al. , 2011 ). A copy of the final interview script can be found in the Supplemental Material.

All interviews were individually conducted by one of two researchers (K.M.C. and L.E.G.) who conducted the think-aloud interviews together to ensure that their interviewing practices were as similar as possible. The interviews were approximately an hour long, and students received a $15 gift card for their participation.

Personal, Research, and Depression Demographics

All student demographics and information about students’ research experiences were collected using the survey distributed to students in Fall 2018. We collected personal demographics, including the participants’ gender, race/ethnicity, college generation status, transfer status, financial stability, year in college, major, and age. We also collected information about the students’ research experiences, including the length of their first research experiences, the average number of hours they spend in research per week, how they were compensated for research, who their primary mentors were, and the focus areas of their research.

In the United States, mental healthcare is disproportionately unavailable to Black and Latinx individuals, as well as those who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds ( Kataoka et al. , 2002 ; Howell and McFeeters, 2008 ; Santiago et al. , 2013 ). Therefore, to minimize a biased sample, we invited anyone who identified with having depression to participate in our study; we did not require students to be diagnosed with depression or to be treated for depression in order to participate. However, we did collect information about whether students had been formally diagnosed with depression and whether they had been treated for depression. After the interview, all participants were sent a link to a short survey that asked them if they had ever been diagnosed with depression and how, if at all, they had ever been treated for depression. A copy of these survey questions can be found in the Supplemental Material. The combined demographic information of the participants is in Table 1 . The demographics for each individual student can be found in the Supplemental Material.

a Students reported the time they had spent in research 6 months before being interviewed and only reported on the length of time of their first research experiences.

b Students were invited to report multiple ways in which they were treated for their depression; other treatments included lifestyle changes and meditation.

c Students were invited to report multiple means of compensation for their research if they had been compensated for their time in different ways.

d Students were asked whether they felt financially stable, particularly during the undergraduate research experience.

e Students reported who they work/worked with most closely during their research experiences.

f Staff members included lab coordinators or lab managers.

g Other focus areas of research included sociology, linguistics, psychology, and public health.

Interview Analysis

The initial interview analysis aimed to explore each idea that a participant expressed ( Charmaz, 2006 ) and to identify reoccurring ideas throughout the interviews. First, three authors (K.M.C., L.E.G., and S.E.B.) individually reviewed a different set of 10 interviews and took detailed analytic notes ( Birks and Mills, 2015 ). Afterward, the authors compared their notes and identified reoccurring themes throughout the interviews using open coding methods ( Saldaña, 2015 ).

Once an initial set of themes was established, two researchers (K.M.C. and L.E.G.) individually reviewed the same set of 15 randomly selected interviews to validate the themes identified in the initial analysis and to screen for any additional themes that the initial analysis may have missed. Each researcher took detailed analytic notes throughout the review of an interview, which they discussed after reviewing each interview. The researchers compared what quotes from each interview they categorized into each theme. Using constant comparison methods, they assigned quotes to each theme and constantly compared the quotes to ensure that each quote fit within the description of the theme ( Glesne and Peshkin, 1992 ). In cases in which quotes were too different from other quotes, a new theme was created. This approach allowed for multiple revisions of the themes and allowed the authors to define a final set of codes; the researchers created a final codebook with refined definitions of emergent themes (the final coding rubric can be found in the Supplemental Material). Once the final codebook was established, the researchers (K.M.C. and L.E.G.) individually coded seven additional interviews (20% of all interviews) using the coding rubric. The researchers compared their codes, and their Cohen’s κ interrater score for these seven interviews was at an acceptable level (κ  =  0.88; Landis and Koch, 1977 ). One researcher (L.E.G.) coded the remaining 28 out of 35 interviews. The researchers determined that data saturation had been reached with the current sample and no further recruitment was needed ( Guest et al. , 2006 ). We report on themes that were mentioned by at least 20% of students in the interview study. In the Supplemental Material, we provide the final coding rubric with the number of participants whose interview reflected each theme ( Hannah and Lautsch, 2011 ). Reporting the number of individuals who reported themes within qualitative data can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the generalizability of the results to a broader population. These qualitative data are meant to characterize a landscape of experiences that students with depression have in undergraduate research rather than to make claims about the prevalence of these experiences ( Glesne and Peshkin, 1992 ). Because inferences about the importance of these themes cannot be drawn from these counts, they are not included in the results of the paper ( Maxwell, 2010 ). Further, the limited number of interviewees made it not possible to examine whether there were trends based on students’ demographics or characteristics of their research experiences (e.g., their specific area of study). Quotes were lightly edited for clarity by inserting clarification brackets and using ellipses to indicate excluded text. Pseudonyms were given to all students to protect their privacy.

The Effect of Depressive Symptoms on Undergraduate Research

We asked students to describe the symptoms associated with their depression. Students described experiencing anxiety that is associated with their depression; this could be anxiety that precedes their depression or anxiety that results from a depressive episode or a period of time when an individual has depression symptoms. Further, students described difficulty getting out of bed or leaving the house, feeling tired, a lack of motivation, being overly self-critical, feeling apathetic, and having difficulty concentrating. We were particularly interested in how students’ symptoms of depression affected their experiences in undergraduate research. During the think-aloud interviews that were conducted before the interview study, graduate and undergraduate students consistently described that their depression affected their motivation in research, their creativity in research, and their productivity in research. Therefore, we explicitly asked undergraduate researchers how, if at all, their depression affected these three factors. We also asked students to describe any additional ways in which their depression affected their research experiences. Undergraduate researchers commonly described five additional ways in which their depression affected their research; for a detailed description of each way students’ research was affected and for example quotes, see Table 2 . Students described that their depression negatively affected their productivity in the lab. Commonly, students described that their productivity was directly affected by a lack of motivation or because they felt less creative, which hindered the research process. Additionally, students highlighted that they were sometimes less productive because their depression sometimes caused them to struggle to engage intellectually with their research or caused them to have difficulty remembering or concentrating; students described that they could do mundane or routine tasks when they felt depressed, but that they had difficulty with more complex and intellectually demanding tasks. However, students sometimes described that even mundane tasks could be difficult when they were required to remember specific steps; for example, some students struggled recalling a protocol from memory when their depression was particularly severe. Additionally, students noted that their depression made them more self-conscious, which sometimes held them back from sharing research ideas with their mentors or from taking risks such as applying to competitive programs. In addition to being self-conscious, students highlighted that their depression caused them to be overly self-critical, and some described experiencing imposter phenomenon ( Clance and Imes, 1978 ) or feeling like they were not talented enough to be in research and were accepted into a lab by a fluke or through luck. Finally, students described that depression often made them feel less social, and they struggled to socially engage with other members of the lab when they were feeling down.

The Effect of Undergraduate Research Experiences on Student Depression

We also wanted to explore how research impacted students’ feelings of depression. Undergraduates described how research both positively and negatively affected their depression. In the following sections, we present aspects of undergraduate research and examine how each positively and/or negatively affected students’ depression using embedded student quotes to highlight the relationships between related ideas.

Lab Environment: Relationships with Others in the Lab.

Some aspects of the lab environment, which we define as students’ physical, social, or psychological research space, could be particularly beneficial for students with depression.

Specifically, undergraduate researchers perceived that comfortable and positive social interactions with others in the lab helped their depression. Students acknowledged how beneficial their relationships with graduate students and postdocs could be.

Marta: “I think always checking in on undergrads is important. It’s really easy [for us] to go a whole day without talking to anybody in the lab. But our grad students are like ‘Hey, what’s up? How’s school? What’s going on?’ (…) What helps me the most is having that strong support system. Sometimes just talking makes you feel better, but also having people that believe in you can really help you get out of that negative spiral. I think that can really help with depression.”

Kelley: “I know that anytime I need to talk to [my postdoc mentors] about something they’re always there for me. Over time we’ve developed a relationship where I know that outside of work and outside of the lab if I did want to talk to them about something I could talk to them. Even just talking to someone about hobbies and having that relationship alone is really helpful [for depression].”

In addition to highlighting the importance of developing relationships with graduate students or postdocs in the lab, students described that forming relationships with other undergraduates in the lab also helped their depression. Particularly, students described that other undergraduate researchers often validated their feelings about research, which in turn helped them realize that what they are thinking or feeling is normal, which tended to alleviate their negative thoughts. Interestingly, other undergraduates experiencing the same issues could sometimes help buffer them from perceiving that a mentor did not like them or that they were uniquely bad at research. In this article, we use the term “mentor” to refer to anyone who students referred to in the interviews as being their mentors or managing their research experiences; this includes graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, lab managers, and primary investigators (PIs).

Abby: “One of my best friends is in the lab with me.  A lot of that friendship just comes from complaining about our stress with the lab and our annoyance with people in the lab. Like when we both agree like, ‘Yeah, the grad students were really off today, it wasn’t us,’ that helps. ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t my fault that we were having a rough day in lab; it was the grad students.’ Just being able to realize, ‘Hey, this isn’t all caused by us,’ you know? (…) We understand the stresses in the lab. We understand the details of what each other are doing in the lab, so when something doesn’t work out, we understand that it took them like eight hours to do that and it didn’t work. We provide empathy on a different level.”

Meleana: “It’s great to have solidarity in being confused about something, and it’s just that is a form of validation for me too. When we leave a lab meeting and I look at [another undergrad] I’m like, ‘Did you understand anything that they were just saying?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, no.’ (…) It’s just really validating to hear from the other undergrads that we all seem to be struggling with the same things.”

Developing positive relationships with faculty mentors or PIs also helped alleviate some students’ depressive feelings, particularly when PIs shared their own struggles with students. This also seemed to normalize students’ concerns about their own experiences.

Alexandra: “[Talking with my PI] is helpful because he would talk about his struggles, and what he faced. A lot of it was very similar to my struggles.  For example, he would say, ‘Oh, yeah, I failed this exam that I studied so hard for. I failed the GRE and I paid so much money to prepare for it.’ It just makes [my depression] better, like okay, this is normal for students to go through this. It’s not an out of this world thing where if you fail, you’re a failure and you can’t move on from it.”

Students’ relationships with others in the lab did not always positively impact their depression. Students described instances when the negative moods of the graduate students and PIs would often set the tone of the lab, which in turn worsened the mood of the undergraduate researchers.

Abby: “Sometimes [the grad students] are not in a good mood. The entire vibe of the lab is just off, and if you make a joke and it hits somebody wrong, they get all mad. It really depends on the grad students and the leadership and the mood that they’re in.”

Interviewer: “How does it affect your depression when the grad students are in a bad mood?”

Abby: “It definitely makes me feel worse. It feels like, again, that I really shouldn’t go ask them for help because they’re just not in the mood to help out. It makes me have more pressure on myself, and I have deadlines I need to meet, but I have a question for them, but they’re in a bad mood so I can’t ask. That’s another day wasted for me and it just puts more stress, which just adds to the depression.”

Additionally, some students described even more concerning behavior from research mentors, which negatively affected their depression.

Julie: “I had a primary investigator who is notorious in the department for screaming at people, being emotionally abusive, unreasonable, et cetera. (…) [He was] kind of harassing people, demeaning them, lying to them, et cetera, et cetera. (…) Being yelled at and constantly demeaned and harassed at all hours of the day and night, that was probably pretty bad for me.”

While the relationships between undergraduates and graduate, postdoc, and faculty mentors seemed to either alleviate or worsen students’ depressive symptoms, depending on the quality of the relationship, students in this study exclusively described their relationships with other undergraduates as positive for their depression. However, students did note that undergraduate research puts some of the best and brightest undergraduates in the same environment, which can result in students comparing themselves with their peers. Students described that this comparison would often lead them to feel badly about themselves, even though they would describe their personal relationship with a person to be good.

Meleana: “In just the research field in general, just feeling like I don’t really measure up to the people around me [can affect my depression]. A lot of the times it’s the beginning of a little spiral, mental spiral. There are some past undergrads that are talked about as they’re on this pedestal of being the ideal undergrads and that they were just so smart and contributed so much to the lab. I can never stop myself from wondering like, ‘Oh, I wonder if I’m having a contribution to the lab that’s similar or if I’m just another one of the undergrads that does the bare minimum and passes through and is just there.’”

Natasha: “But, on the other hand, [having another undergrad in the lab] also reminded me constantly that some people are invested in this and meant to do this and it’s not me. And that some people know a lot more than I do and will go further in this than I will.”

While students primarily expressed that their relationships with others in the lab affected their depression, some students explained that they struggled most with depression when the lab was empty; they described that they did not like being alone in the lab, because a lack of stimulation allowed their minds to be filled with negative thoughts.

Mia: “Those late nights definitely didn’t help [my depression]. I am alone, in the entire building.  I’m left alone to think about my thoughts more, so not distracted by talking to people or interacting with people. I think more about how I’m feeling and the lack of progress I’m making, and the hopelessness I’m feeling. That kind of dragged things on, and I guess deepened my depression.”

Freddy: “Often times when I go to my office in the evening, that is when I would [ sic ] be prone to be more depressed. It’s being alone. I think about myself or mistakes or trying to correct mistakes or whatever’s going on in my life at the time. I become very introspective. I think I’m way too self-evaluating, way too self-deprecating and it’s when I’m alone when those things are really, really triggered. When I’m talking with somebody else, I forget about those things.”

In sum, students with depression highlighted that a lab environment full of positive and encouraging individuals was helpful for their depression, whereas isolating or competitive environments and negative interactions with others often resulted in more depressive feelings.

Doing Science: Experiencing Failure in Research, Getting Help, Receiving Feedback, Time Demands, and Important Contributions.

In addition to the lab environment, students also described that the process of doing science could affect their depression. Specifically, students explained that a large contributor to their depression was experiencing failure in research.

Interviewer: “Considering your experience in undergraduate research, what tends to trigger your feelings of depression?”

Heather: “Probably just not getting things right. Having to do an experiment over and over again. You don’t get the results you want. (…) The work is pretty meticulous and it’s frustrating when I do all this work, I do a whole experiment, and then I don’t get any results that I can use. That can be really frustrating. It adds to the stress. (…) It’s hard because you did all this other stuff before so you can plan for the research, and then something happens and all the stuff you did was worthless basically.”

Julie: “I felt very negatively about myself [when a project failed] and pretty panicked whenever something didn’t work because I felt like it was a direct reflection on my effort and/or intelligence, and then it was a big glaring personal failure.”

Students explained that their depression related to failing in research was exacerbated if they felt as though they could not seek help from their research mentors. Perceived insufficient mentor guidance has been shown to be a factor influencing student intention to leave undergraduate research ( Cooper et al. , 2019c ). Sometimes students talked about their research mentors being unavailable or unapproachable.

Michelle: “It just feels like [the graduate students] are not approachable. I feel like I can’t approach them to ask for their understanding in a certain situation. It makes [my depression] worse because I feel like I’m stuck, and that I’m being limited, and like there’s nothing I can do. So then I kind of feel like it’s my fault that I can’t do anything.”

Other times, students described that they did not seek help in fear that they would be negatively evaluated in research, which is a fear of being judged by others ( Watson and Friend, 1969 ; Weeks et al. , 2005 ; Cooper et al. , 2018 ). That is, students fear that their mentor would think negatively about them or judge them if they were to ask questions that their mentor thought they should know the answer to.

Meleana: “I would say [my depression] tends to come out more in being more reserved in asking questions because I think that comes more like a fear-based thing where I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t feel like I’m good enough and so I don’t want to ask these questions because then my mentors will, I don’t know, think that I’m dumb or something.’”

Conversely, students described that mentors who were willing to help them alleviated their depressive feelings.

Crystal: “Yeah [my grad student] is always like, ‘Hey, I can check in on things in the lab because you’re allowed to ask me for that, you’re not totally alone in this,’ because he knows that I tend to take on all this responsibility and I don’t always know how to ask for help. He’s like, ‘You know, this is my lab too and I am here to help you as well,’ and just reminds me that I’m not shouldering this burden by myself.”

Ashlyn: “The graduate student who I work with is very kind and has a lot of patience and he really understands a lot of things and provides simple explanations. He does remind me about things and he will keep on me about certain tasks that I need to do in an understanding way, and it’s just because he’s patient and he listens.”

In addition to experiencing failure in science, students described that making mistakes when doing science also negatively affected their depression.

Abby: “I guess not making mistakes on experiments [is important in avoiding my depression]. Not necessarily that your experiment didn’t turn out to produce the data that you wanted, but just adding the wrong enzyme or messing something up like that. It’s like, ‘Oh, man,’ you know? You can get really down on yourself about that because it can be embarrassing.”

Commonly, students described that the potential for making mistakes increased their stress and anxiety regarding research; however, they explained that how other people responded to a potential mistake was what ultimately affected their depression.

Briana: “Sometimes if I made a mistake in correctly identifying an eye color [of a fly], [my PI] would just ridicule me in front of the other students. He corrected me but his method of correcting was very discouraging because it was a ridicule. It made the others laugh and I didn’t like that.”

Julie: “[My PI] explicitly [asked] if I had the dedication for science. A lot of times he said I had terrible judgment. A lot of times he said I couldn’t be trusted. Once I went to a conference with him, and, unfortunately, in front of another professor, he called me a klutz several times and there was another comment about how I never learn from my mistakes.”

When students did do things correctly, they described how important it could be for them to receive praise from their mentors. They explained that hearing praise and validation can be particularly helpful for students with depression, because their thoughts are often very negative and/or because they have low self-esteem.

Crystal: “[Something that helps my depression is] I have text messages from [my graduate student mentor] thanking me [and another undergraduate researcher] for all of the work that we’ve put in, that he would not be able to be as on track to finish as he is if he didn’t have our help.”

Interviewer: “Why is hearing praise from your mentor helpful?”

Crystal: “Because a lot of my depression focuses on everybody secretly hates you, nobody likes you, you’re going to die alone. So having that validation [from my graduate mentor] is important, because it flies in the face of what my depression tells me.”

Brian: “It reminds you that you exist outside of this negative world that you’ve created for yourself, and people don’t see you how you see yourself sometimes.”

Students also highlighted how research could be overwhelming, which negatively affected their depression. Particularly, students described that research demanded a lot of their time and that their mentors did not always seem to be aware that they were juggling school and other commitments in addition to their research. This stress exacerbated their depression.

Rose: “I feel like sometimes [my grad mentors] are not very understanding because grad students don’t take as many classes as [undergrads] do. I think sometimes they don’t understand when I say I can’t come in at all this week because I have finals and they’re like, ‘Why though?’”

Abby: “I just think being more understanding of student life would be great. We have classes as well as the lab, and classes are the priority. They forget what it’s like to be a student. You feel like they don’t understand and they could never understand when you say like, ‘I have three exams this week,’ and they’re like, ‘I don’t care. You need to finish this.’”

Conversely, some students reported that their research labs were very understanding of students’ schedules. Interestingly, these students talked most about how helpful it was to be able to take a mental health day and not do research on days when they felt down or depressed.

Marta: “My lab tech is very open, so she’ll tell us, ‘I can’t come in today. I have to take a mental health day.’ So she’s a really big advocate for that. And I think I won’t personally tell her that I’m taking a mental health day, but I’ll say, ‘I can’t come in today, but I’ll come in Friday and do those extra hours.’ And she’s like, ‘OK great, I’ll see you then.’  And it makes me feel good, because it helps me take care of myself first and then I can take care of everything else I need to do, which is amazing.”

Meleana: “Knowing that [my mentors] would be flexible if I told them that I’m crazy busy and can’t come into work nearly as much this week [helps my depression]. There is flexibility in allowing me to then care for myself.”

Interviewer: “Why is the flexibility helpful given the depression?”

Meleana: “Because sometimes for me things just take a little bit longer when I’m feeling down. I’m just less efficient to be honest, and so it’s helpful if I feel like I can only go into work for 10 hours in a week. It declutters my brain a little bit to not have to worry about all the things I have to do in work in addition the things that I need to do for school or clubs, or family or whatever.”

Despite the demanding nature of research, a subset of students highlighted that their research and research lab provided a sense of stability or familiarity that distracted them from their depression.

Freddy: “I’ll [do research] to run away from those [depressive] feelings or whatever. (…) I find sadly, I hate to admit it, but I do kind of run to [my lab]. I throw myself into work to distract myself from the feelings of depression and sadness.”

Rose: “When you’re sad or when you’re stressed you want to go to things you’re familiar with. So because lab has always been in my life, it’s this thing where it’s going to be there for me I guess. It’s like a good book that you always go back to and it’s familiar and it makes you feel good. So that’s how lab is. It’s not like the greatest thing in the world but it’s something that I’m used to, which is what I feel like a lot of people need when they’re sad and life is not going well.”

Many students also explained that research positively affects their depression because they perceive their research contribution to be important.

Ashlyn: “I feel like I’m dedicating myself to something that’s worthy and something that I believe in. It’s really important because it contextualizes those times when I am feeling depressed. It’s like, no, I do have these better things that I’m working on. Even when I don’t like myself and I don’t like who I am, which is again, depression brain, I can at least say, ‘Well, I have all these other people relying on me in research and in this area and that’s super important.’”

Jessica: “I mean, it just felt like the work that I was doing had meaning and when I feel like what I’m doing is actually going to contribute to the world, that usually really helps with [depression] because it’s like not every day you can feel like you’re doing something impactful.”

In sum, students highlighted that experiencing failure in research and making mistakes negatively contributed to depression, especially when help was unavailable or research mentors had a negative reaction. Additionally, students acknowledged that the research could be time-consuming, but that research mentors who were flexible helped assuage depressive feelings that were associated with feeling overwhelmed. Finally, research helped some students’ depression, because it felt familiar, provided a distraction from depression, and reminded students that they were contributing to a greater cause.

We believe that creating more inclusive research environments for students with depression is an important step toward broadening participation in science, not only to ensure that we are not discouraging students with depression from persisting in science, but also because depression has been shown to disproportionately affect underserved and underrepresented groups in science ( Turner and Noh, 1988 ; Eisenberg et al. , 2007 ; Jenkins et al. , 2013 ; American College Health Association, 2018 ). We initially hypothesized that three features of undergraduate research—research mentors, the lab environment, and failure—may have the potential to exacerbate student depression. We found this to be true; students highlighted that their relationships with their mentors as well as the overall lab environment could negatively affect their depression, but could also positively affect their research experiences. Students also noted that they struggled with failure, which is likely true of most students, but is known to be particularly difficult for students with depression ( Elliott et al. , 1997 ). We expand upon our findings by integrating literature on depression with the information that students provided in the interviews about how research mentors can best support students. We provide a set of evidence-based recommendations focused on mentoring, the lab environment, and failure for research mentors wanting to create more inclusive research environments for students with depression. Notably, only the first recommendation is specific to students with depression; the others reflect recommendations that have previously been described as “best practices” for research mentors ( NASEM, 2017 , 2019 ; Sorkness et al. , 2017 ) and likely would benefit most students. However, we examine how these recommendations may be particularly important for students with depression. As we hypothesized, these recommendations directly address three aspects of research: mentors, lab environment, and failure. A caveat of these recommendations is that more research needs to be done to explore the experiences of students with depression and how these practices actually impact students with depression, but our national sample of undergraduate researchers with depression can provide an initial starting point for a discussion about how to improve research experiences for these students.

Recommendations to Make Undergraduate Research Experiences More Inclusive for Students with Depression

Recognize student depression as a valid illness..

Allow students with depression to take time off of research by simply saying that they are sick and provide appropriate time for students to recover from depressive episodes. Also, make an effort to destigmatize mental health issues.

Undergraduate researchers described both psychological and physical symptoms that manifested as a result of their depression and highlighted how such symptoms prevented them from performing to their full potential in undergraduate research. For example, students described how their depression would cause them to feel unmotivated, which would often negatively affect their research productivity. In cases in which students were motivated enough to come in and do their research, they described having difficulty concentrating or engaging in the work. Further, when doing research, students felt less creative and less willing to take risks, which may alter the quality of their work. Students also sometimes struggled to socialize in the lab. They described feeling less social and feeling overly self-critical. In sum, students described that, when they experienced a depressive episode, they were not able to perform to the best of their ability, and it sometimes took a toll on them to try to act like nothing was wrong, when they were internally struggling with depression. We recommend that research mentors treat depression like any other physical illness; allowing students the chance to recover when they are experiencing a depressive episode can be extremely important to students and can allow them to maximize their productivity upon returning to research ( Judd et al. , 2000 ). Students explained that if they are not able to take the time to focus on recovering during a depressive episode, then they typically continue to struggle with depression, which negatively affects their research. This sentiment is echoed by researchers in psychiatry who have found that patients who do not fully recover from a depressive episode are more likely to relapse and to experience chronic depression ( Judd et al. , 2000 ). Students described not doing tasks or not showing up to research because of their depression but struggling with how to share that information with their research mentors. Often, students would not say anything, which caused them anxiety because they were worried about what others in the lab would say to them when they returned. Admittedly, many students understood why this behavior would cause their research mentors to be angry or frustrated, but they weighed the consequences of their research mentors’ displeasure against the consequences of revealing their depression and decided it was not worth admitting to being depressed. This aligns with literature that suggests that when individuals have concealable stigmatized identities, or identities that can be hidden and that carry negative stereotypes, such as depression, they will often keep them concealed to avoid negative judgment or criticism ( Link and Phelan, 2001 ; Quinn and Earnshaw, 2011 ; Jones and King, 2014 ; Cooper and Brownell, 2016 ; Cooper et al. , 2019b ; Cooper et al ., unpublished data ). Therefore, it is important for research mentors to be explicit with students that 1) they recognize mental illness as a valid sickness and 2) that students with mental illness can simply explain that they are sick if they need to take time off. This may be useful to overtly state on a research website or in a research syllabus, contract, or agreement if mentors use such documents when mentoring undergraduates in their lab. Further, research mentors can purposefully work to destigmatize mental health issues by explicitly stating that struggling with mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, is common. While we do not recommend that mentors ask students directly about depression, because this can force students to share when they are not comfortable sharing, we do recommend providing opportunities for students to reveal their depression ( Chaudoir and Fisher, 2010 ). Mentors can regularly check in with students about how they’re doing, and talk openly about the importance of mental health, which may increase the chance that students may feel comfortable revealing their depression ( Chaudoir and Quinn, 2010 ; Cooper et al ., unpublished data ).

Foster a Positive Lab Environment.

Encourage positivity in the research lab, promote working in shared spaces to enhance social support among lab members, and alleviate competition among undergraduates.

Students in this study highlighted that the “leadership” of the lab, meaning graduate students, postdocs, lab managers, and PIs, were often responsible for establishing the tone of the lab; that is, if they were in a bad mood it would trickle down and negatively affect the moods of the undergraduates. Explicitly reminding lab leadership that their moods can both positively and negatively affect undergraduates may be important in establishing a positive lab environment. Further, students highlighted how they were most likely to experience negative thoughts when they were alone in the lab. Therefore, it may be helpful to encourage all lab members to work in a shared space to enhance social interactions among students and to maximize the likelihood that undergraduates have access to help when needed. A review of 51 studies in psychiatry supported our undergraduate researchers’ perceptions that social relationships positively impacted their depression; the study found that perceived emotional support (e.g., someone available to listen or give advice), perceived instrumental support (e.g., someone available to help with tasks), and large diverse social networks (e.g., being socially connected to a large number of people) were significantly protective against depression ( Santini et al. , 2015 ). Additionally, despite forming positive relationships with other undergraduates in the lab, many undergraduate researchers admitted to constantly comparing themselves with other undergraduates, which led them to feel inferior, negatively affecting their depression. Some students talked about mentors favoring current undergraduates or talking positively about past undergraduates, which further exacerbated their feelings of inferiority. A recent study of students in undergraduate research experiences highlighted that inequitable distribution of praise to undergraduates can create negative perceptions of lab environments for students (Cooper et al. , 2019). Further, the psychology literature has demonstrated that when people feel insecure in their social environments, it can cause them to focus on a hierarchical view of themselves and others, which can foster feelings of inferiority and increase their vulnerability to depression ( Gilbert et al. , 2009 ). Thus, we recommend that mentors be conscious of their behaviors so that they do not unintentionally promote competition among undergraduates or express favoritism toward current or past undergraduates. Praise is likely best used without comparison with others and not done in a public way, although more research on the impact of praise on undergraduate researchers needs to be done. While significant research has been done on mentoring and mentoring relationships in the context of undergraduate research ( Byars-Winston et al. , 2015 ; Aikens et al. , 2017 ; Estrada et al. , 2018 ; Limeri et al. , 2019 ; NASEM, 2019 ), much less has been done on the influence of the lab environment broadly and how people in nonmentoring roles can influence one another. Yet, this study indicates the potential influence of many different members of the lab, not only their mentors, on students with depression.

Develop More Personal Relationships with Undergraduate Researchers and Provide Sufficient Guidance.

Make an effort to establish more personal relationships with undergraduates and ensure that they perceive that they have access to sufficient help and guidance with regard to their research.

When we asked students explicitly how research mentors could help create more inclusive environments for undergraduate researchers with depression, students overwhelmingly said that building mentor–student relationships would be extremely helpful. Students suggested that mentors could get to know students on a more personal level by asking about their career interests or interests outside of academia. Students also remarked that establishing a more personal relationship could help build the trust needed in order for undergraduates to confide in their research mentors about their depression, which they perceived would strengthen their relationships further because they could be honest about when they were not feeling well or their mentors might even “check in” with them in times where they were acting differently than normal. This aligns with studies showing that undergraduates are most likely to reveal a stigmatized identity, such as depression, when they form a close relationship with someone ( Chaudoir and Quinn, 2010 ). Many were intimidated to ask for research-related help from their mentors and expressed that they wished they had established a better relationship so that they would feel more comfortable. Therefore, we recommend that research mentors try to establish relationships with their undergraduates and explicitly invite them to ask questions or seek help when needed. These recommendations are supported by national recommendations for mentoring ( NASEM, 2019 ) and by literature that demonstrates that both social support (listening and talking with students) and instrumental support (providing students with help) have been shown to be protective against depression ( Santini et al. , 2015 ).

Treat Undergraduates with Respect and Remember to Praise Them.

Avoid providing harsh criticism and remember to praise undergraduates. Students with depression often have low self-esteem and are especially self-critical. Therefore, praise can help calibrate their overly negative self-perceptions.

Students in this study described that receiving criticism from others, especially harsh criticism, was particularly difficult for them given their depression. Multiple studies have demonstrated that people with depression can have an abnormal or maladaptive response to negative feedback; scientists hypothesize that perceived failure on a particular task can trigger failure-related thoughts that interfere with subsequent performance ( Eshel and Roiser, 2010 ). Thus, it is important for research mentors to remember to make sure to avoid unnecessarily harsh criticisms that make students feel like they have failed (more about failure is described in the next recommendation). Further, students with depression often have low self-esteem or low “personal judgment of the worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes the individual holds towards oneself” ( Heatherton et al. , 2003 , p. 220; Sowislo and Orth, 2013 ). Specifically, a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies found that low self-esteem is predictive of depression ( Sowislo and Orth, 2013 ), and depression has also been shown to be highly related to self-criticism ( Luyten et al. , 2007 ). Indeed, nearly all of the students in our study described thinking that they are “not good enough,” “worthless,” or “inadequate,” which is consistent with literature showing that people with depression are self-critical ( Blatt et al. , 1982 ; Gilbert et al. , 2006 ) and can be less optimistic of their performance on future tasks and rate their overall performance on tasks less favorably than their peers without depression ( Cane and Gotlib, 1985 ). When we asked students what aspects of undergraduate research helped their depression, students described that praise from their mentors was especially impactful, because they thought so poorly of themselves and they needed to hear something positive from someone else in order to believe it could be true. Praise has been highlighted as an important aspect of mentoring in research for many years ( Ashford, 1996 ; Gelso and Lent, 2000 ; Brown et al. , 2009 ) and may be particularly important for students with depression. In fact, praise has been shown to enhance individuals’ motivation and subsequent productivity ( Hancock, 2002 ; Henderlong and Lepper, 2002 ), factors highlighted by students as negatively affecting their depression. However, something to keep in mind is that a student with depression and a student without depression may process praise differently. For a student with depression, a small comment that praises the student’s work may not be sufficient for the student to process that comment as praise. People with depression are hyposensitive to reward or have reward-processing deficits ( Eshel and Roiser, 2010 ); therefore, praise may affect students without depression more positively than it would affect students with depression. Research mentors should be mindful that students with depression often have a negative view of themselves, and while students report that praise is extremely important, they may have trouble processing such positive feedback.

Normalize Failure and Be Explicit about the Importance of Research Contributions.

Explicitly remind students that experiencing failure is expected in research. Also explain to students how their individual work relates to the overall project so that they can understand how their contributions are important. It can also be helpful to explain to students why the research project as a whole is important in the context of the greater scientific community.

Experiencing failure has been thought to be a potentially important aspect of undergraduate research, because it may provide students with the potential to develop integral scientific skills such as the ability to navigate challenges and persevere ( Laursen et al. , 2010 ; Gin et al. , 2018 ; Henry et al. , 2019 ). However, in the interviews, students described that when their science experiments failed, it was particularly tough for their depression. Students’ negative reaction to experiencing failure in research is unsurprising, given recent literature that has predicted that students may be inadequately prepared to approach failure in science ( Henry et al. , 2019 ). However, the literature suggests that students with depression may find experiencing failure in research to be especially difficult ( Elliott et al. , 1997 ; Mongrain and Blackburn, 2005 ; Jones et al. , 2009 ). One potential hypothesis is that students with depression may be more likely to have fixed mindsets or more likely to believe that their intelligence and capacity for specific abilities are unchangeable traits ( Schleider and Weisz, 2018 ); students with a fixed mindset have been hypothesized to have particularly negative responses to experiencing failure in research, because they are prone to quitting easily in the face of challenges and becoming defensive when criticized ( Forsythe and Johnson, 2017 ; Dweck, 2008 ). A study of life sciences undergraduates enrolled in CUREs identified three strategies of students who adopted adaptive coping mechanisms, or mechanisms that help an individual maintain well-being and/or move beyond the stressor when faced with failure in undergraduate research: 1) problem solving or engaging in strategic planning and decision making, 2) support seeking or finding comfort and help with research, and 3) cognitive restructuring or reframing a problem from negative to positive and engaging in self encouragement ( Gin et al. , 2018 ). We recommend that, when undergraduates experience failure in science, their mentors be proactive in helping them problem solve, providing help and support, and encouraging them. Students also explained that mentors sharing their own struggles as undergraduate and graduate students was helpful, because it normalized failure. Sharing personal failures in research has been recommended as an important way to provide students with psychosocial support during research ( NASEM, 2019 ). We also suggest that research mentors take time to explain to students why their tasks in the lab, no matter how small, contribute to the greater research project ( Cooper et al. , 2019a ). Additionally, it is important to make sure that students can explain how the research project as a whole is contributing to the scientific community ( Gin et al. , 2018 ). Students highlighted that contributing to something important was really helpful for their depression, which is unsurprising, given that studies have shown that meaning in life or people’s comprehension of their life experiences along with a sense of overarching purpose one is working toward has been shown to be inversely related to depression ( Steger, 2013 ).

Limitations and Future Directions

This work was a qualitative interview study intended to document a previously unstudied phenomenon: depression in the context of undergraduate research experiences. We chose to conduct semistructured interviews rather than a survey because of the need for initial exploration of this area, given the paucity of prior research. A strength of this study is the sampling approach. We recruited a national sample of 35 undergraduates engaged in undergraduate research at 12 different public R1 institutions. Despite our representative sample from R1 institutions, these findings may not be generalizable to students at other types of institutions; lab environments, mentoring structures, and interactions between faculty and undergraduate researchers may be different at other institution types (e.g., private R1 institutions, R2 institutions, master’s-granting institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions, and community colleges), so we caution against making generalizations about this work to all undergraduate research experiences. Future work could assess whether students with depression at other types of institutions have similar experiences to students at research-intensive institutions. Additionally, we intentionally did not explore the experiences of students with specific identities owing to our sample size and the small number of students in any particular group (e.g., students of a particular race, students with a graduate mentor as the primary mentor). We intend to conduct future quantitative studies to further explore how students’ identities and aspects of their research affect their experiences with depression in undergraduate research.

The students who participated in the study volunteered to be interviewed about their depression; therefore, it is possible that depression is a more salient part of these students’ identities and/or that they are more comfortable talking about their depression than the average population of students with depression. It is also important to acknowledge the personal nature of the topic and that some students may not have fully shared their experiences ( Krumpal, 2013 ), particularly those experiences that may be emotional or traumatizing ( Kahn and Garrison, 2009 ). Additionally, our sample was skewed toward females (77%). While females do make up approximately 60% of students in biology programs on average ( Eddy et al. , 2014 ), they are also more likely to report experiencing depression ( American College Health Association, 2018 ; Evans et al. , 2018 ). However, this could be because women have higher rates of depression or because males are less likely to report having depression; clinical bias, or practitioners’ subconscious tendencies to overlook male distress, may underestimate depression rates in men ( Smith et al. , 2018 ). Further, females are also more likely to volunteer to participate in studies ( Porter and Whitcomb, 2005 ); therefore, many interview studies have disproportionately more females in the data set (e.g., Cooper et al. , 2017 ). If we had been able to interview more male students, we might have identified different findings. Additionally, we limited our sample to life sciences students engaged in undergraduate research at public R1 institutions. It is possible that students in other majors may have different challenges and opportunities for students with depression, as well as different disciplinary stigmas associated with mental health.

In this exploratory interview study, we identified a variety of ways in which depression in undergraduates negatively affected their undergraduate research experiences. Specifically, we found that depression interfered with students’ motivation and productivity, creativity and risk-taking, engagement and concentration, and self-perception and socializing. We also identified that research can negatively affect depression in undergraduates. Experiencing failure in research can exacerbate student depression, especially when students do not have access to adequate guidance. Additionally, being alone or having negative interactions with others in the lab worsened students’ depression. However, we also found that undergraduate research can positively affect students’ depression. Research can provide a familiar space where students can feel as though they are contributing to something meaningful. Additionally, students reported that having access to adequate guidance and a social support network within the research lab also positively affected their depression. We hope that this work can spark conversations about how to make undergraduate research experiences more inclusive of students with depression and that it can stimulate additional research that more broadly explores the experiences of undergraduate researchers with depression.

Important note

If you or a student experience symptoms of depression and want help, there are resources available to you. Many campuses provide counseling centers equipped to provide students, staff, and faculty with treatment for depression, as well as university-dedicated crisis hotlines. Additionally, there are free 24/7 services such as Crisis Text Line, which allows you to text a trained live crisis counselor (Text “CONNECT” to 741741; Text Depression Hotline , 2019 ), and phone hotlines such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can also learn more about depression and where to find help near you through the Anxiety and Depression Association of American website: https://adaa.org ( Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2019 ) and the Depression and Biopolar Support Alliance: http://dbsalliance.org ( Depression and Biopolar Support Alliance, 2019 ).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are extremely grateful to the undergraduate researchers who shared their thoughts and experiences about depression with us. We acknowledge the ASU LEAP Scholars for helping us create the original survey and Rachel Scott for her helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this article. L.E.G. was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship (DGE-1311230) and K.M.C. was partially supported by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence grant (no. 11046) and an NSF grant (no. 1644236). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF or HHMI.

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• Yi Zheng , and
• Rebecca Price, Monitoring Editor
• Dominant Learning Styles of Interior Design Students in Generation Z 26 July 2021 | Journal of Interior Design, Vol. 46, No. 4
• Linking Emotional Intelligence, Physical Activity and Aggression among Undergraduates 26 November 2021 | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 18, No. 23
• Advancing undergraduate synthetic biology education: insights from a Canadian iGEM student perspective Canadian Journal of Microbiology, Vol. 67, No. 10
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• Depression as a concealable stigmatized identity: what influences whether students conceal or reveal their depression in undergraduate research experiences? 4 June 2020 | International Journal of STEM Education, Vol. 7, No. 1

Submitted: 4 November 2019 Revised: 24 February 2020 Accepted: 6 March 2020

© 2020 K. M. Cooper, L. E. Gin, et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2020 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

227 Depression Research Topics & Essay Titles + Examples

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• Depression and Solutions in Psychiatry
• Depression as It Relates to Obesity
• Depression: Case Conceptualization and Treatment Planning
• Teenage Depression: Causes and Symptoms
• The Concept of Postpartum Depression
• History and Treatment of Depression
• Components of the Treatment of Depression
• Social Media as a Cause of Anxiety and Depression Anxiety and depression are considerable problems for world society. Numerous studies have linked high social media use with high levels of anxiety and depression.
• Geriatric Depression Scale, Clock Drawing Test and Mini-Mental Status Examination Depression is a common condition among geriatric patients. Around 5 million older adults in the US experience significant morbidity from depression.
• Does Social Media Use Contribute to Depression? Social media is a relatively new concept in a modern world. It combines technology and social tendencies to enhance interaction through Internet-based gadgets and applications.
• Transition Phase of Depression and Its’ Challenges Providing psychoeducation to people with mild to moderate depression, strategies for recognizing and addressing conflict and reluctance are discussed in this paper
• Adolescent Mental Health: Depression This paper includes depression background discussion, including its signs, prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment, and a plan of treatment with three interventions to address this chronic health disease.
• Action Research in Treating Depression With Physical Exercise Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States. The latest statistics showed that depression does not discriminate against age.
• Impact of Depression on a Family The article makes a very powerful argument about the effects of depression on the relatives of the patient by identifying the major factors that put the family into a challenging position.
• Depression and Depressive Disorders Depression is one of the leading causes of disability in the world. Symptoms are feelings of sadness and guilt, changes in sleeping patterns changes in appetite, and other.
• The Rise of Depression in the Era of the Internet Understanding how the Internet affects human lives is essential in ascertaining the reasons for the growing loneliness in the intrinsically connected world.
• Application of Analysis of Variance in the Analysis of HIV/AIDS-Related Depression Cases Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a commonly used approach in the testing of the equality of various means using variance.
• Major Types of Depression This paper will review and analyze two scholarly articles concerning depression, its sings in male and female patients, and its connection and similarity to other disorders.
• Major Depression’ Symptoms and Treatment – Psychology A continuous sense of tiredness, unhappiness, and hopelessness are key signs of clinical or major depression. Such mood changes alter the daily life programs of an individual for sometimes.
• Depression: Psychoeducational Intervention This paper considers the peculiarities of the application of psychoeducation in depression, including advantages, limitations, and ethical aspects.
• Mitigating Postnatal Depression in New Mothers: A Recreational Program Plan Post-natal depression is a popular form of depression in women. This paper presents an activity plan for the use of leisure as a therapeutic response to post-natal depression.
• Baby Blues: What We Know About Postpartum Depression The term Postpartum Depression describes a wide variety of physical and emotional adjustments experienced by a significant number of new mothers.
• Self-Esteem and Depression in Quantitative Research The topic that has been proposed for quantitative research pertains to the problem of the relationship between self-esteem and depression.
• Smoking Cessation and Depression It was estimated that nicotine affects the human’s reward system. As a result, smoking cessation might lead to depression and other mental disorder.
• Predicting Barriers to Treatment for Depression Mental health issues such as depression and drug abuse are the most frequent among teenagers and young adults. In this age range, both disorders tend to co-occur.
• Relation Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Depression The paper is to share an insight into the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of thousands of people and provide advice on how to reduce its impact.
• Post-operative Breast Cancer Patients With Depression: Annotated Bibliography This paper is an annotated bibliography about risk reduction strategies at the point of care: Post-operative breast cancer patients who are experiencing depression.
• Is Creativity A Modern Panacea From Boredom and Depression? Communication, daily life, and working patterns become nothing but fixed mechanisms that are deprived of any additional thoughts and perspectives.
• Depression and Other Antecedents of Obesity Defeating the inertia about taking up a regular programme of sports and exercise can be a challenging goal. Hence, more advocacy campaigns focus on doing something about obesity with a more prudent diet.
• Depression in Adolescence as a Contemporary Issue Depression in adolescents is not medically different from adult depression but is caused by developmental and social challenges young people encounter.
• Depression and Workplace Violence The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis how can workplace violence and verbal aggression be reduced or dealt with by employees.
• Treating Mild Depression: Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy The project intends to investigate the comparative effectiveness of the treatments that are currently used for mild depression.
• Anxiety, Depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Currently, many people experience anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder that affect their general health.
• Depression and Anxiety: Mary’s Case Mary’s husband’s death precipitated her depression and anxiety diagnosis. She feels lonely and miserable as she struggles with her daily endeavors with limited emotional support.
• What Are the Characteristics and Causes of Depression?
• Why Are Athletes Vulnerable to Depression?
• Why and How Adolescents Are Affected by Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Clinical Depression?
• Does Depression Assist Eating Disorders?
• What Should You Know About Depression?
• How Can Mother Nature Lower Depression and Anxiety?
• How Can Video Games Relieve Stress and Reduce Depression?
• When Does Teacher Support Reduce Depression in Students?
• Why Are Teenagers Affected by Depression?
• How Teens and Depression Today?
• Are Mental Health Issues Like Depression Related to Race?
• What Does Depression Mean?
• How Did the Depression Affect France?
• How Does Depression Stop?
• When Postpartum Depression Leads to Psychosis?
• How Do Medication and Therapy Combat Depression?
• What Are the Leading Causes of Depression?
• What About Drugs for Anxiety and Depression?
• What’s the Big Deal About Anxiety and Depression in Students?
• How Should Childhood Depression and Anxiety Be?
• How Do Gender Stereotypes Warp Our View of Depression?
• What Are the Signs of Teenage Depression?
• Are Testosterone Levels and Depression Risk Linked Based on Partnering and Parenting?
• How Psychology Helps People With Depression?
• How Should Childhood Depression and Anxiety Be Treated or Dealt With?
• African American Children Suffering From Anxiety and Depression Depression and anxiety are common among African American children and adolescents, and they face significant barriers to receiving care and treatment.
• Effects of Music Therapy on Depressed Elderly People Music therapy has been shown to have positive effects among people, and thus the aim was to assess the validity of such claims using elderly people.
• Depression in the Contemporary Society Public awareness about depression has increased in recent years, with more attention dedicated to the need for addressing this serious mental health illness and less stigmatization.
• Physiological Psychology. Postpartum Depression Depression is a focal public health question. In the childbearing period, it is commoner in females than in males with a 2:1 ratio.
• Adolescent Depression: Modern Issues and Resources Teenagers encounter many challenging health-related issues; mental health conditions are one of them. This paper presents the aspects of depression in adolescents.
• Depression Among Rich People Analysis Among the myriad differences between rich and poor people is the manner in which they are influenced by and respond to depression.
• Theories in Depression Treatment This study analyzes the theories pertinent to depression treatment, reviews relevant evidence, defines key concepts of the project, and explains the framework chosen for it.
• The Postnatal (Postpartum) Depression’ Concept Postnatal or postpartum depression (PPD) is a subtype of depression which is experienced by women within the first half a year after giving birth.
• The Efficacy of Medication in Depression’ Treatment This paper attempts to provide a substantial material for the participation in an argument concerning the clinical effectiveness of antidepressant medications.
• Depression and Cognitive Psychotherapy Approaches Cognitive psychotherapy offers various techniques to cope with emotional problems. This paper discusses the most effective cognitive approaches.
• Women’s Mental Health Disorder: Major Depression The mental health disorder paper aims to explore major depression, its symptoms, assessment, and intervention strategies appropriate for women.
• Early Diagnosis of Depression Among Young Adults The purpose of this study was to discover sociodemographic and health traits related to depression sufferers’ usage of various mental health services.
• Depression in Middle-Aged African Women The research study investigates depression in middle-aged African women because the mental health of the population is a serious concern of the modern healthcare sector.
• Early Diagnosis of Depression Among Young Adults The paper shows a need for early identification of depression symptoms in primary care practice. PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 are useful tools for portraying symptoms.
• Early Diagnosis of Depression: Public Health Depression in young adults has become a significant health problem across the US. It causes persistent feelings of loss of interest in activities and sadness.
• Depression and Social Media in Scientific vs. Popular Articles The damage can come in the form of misinformation, which can result in an unjustified and unnecessary self-restriction of social media.
• Depression in Adolescence: Causes and Treatment Depression amongst young adults at the puberty stage comes in hand with several causes that one cannot imagine, and depression happens or is triggered by various reasons.
• Addressing Depression Among Native Youths The current paper aims to utilize a Medicine Wheel model and a social work paradigm to manage depression among Native American Indian youths.
• Psychological Assessments and Intervention Strategies for Depression The article presents two case studies highlighting the importance of psychological assessments and intervention strategies for individuals experiencing depression.
• The Impact of Postpartum Maternal Depression on Postnatal Attachment This paper examines the influence of postpartum maternal depression on postnatal infant attachment, discusses the adverse effects of depression on attachment.
• Marijuana Effects on Risk of Anxiety and Depression The current paper aims to find out whether medical cannabis can positively affect anxiety and depression and the process of their treatment.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety and Depression Cognitive behavioral therapy analyzes the unconscious processes influencing the normal functioning of the human body, causing different pathologies.
• Hypnotherapy as an Effective Method for Treating Depression This paper explores the use of hypnotherapy as a treatment for depression and highlights the advantages of hypnosis in addressing depressive symptoms.
• Postpartum Depression in Women and Men The focus of the paper is health problems that affect women after giving birth to a child, such as depression. The author proposes that men also experience postpartum depression.
• Repression and Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author highlighted the connection between repression and depression.
• Men and Depression: Signs, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment Depression in men and women has several incompatibilities as males suffer from health problems more often than women as they rarely express their emotions.
• Promotion of Change Regarding Adolescent Depression In the essay, the author describes the methods to evaluate the symptoms of a patient who has been referred for counseling with depression.
• Interventions to Cope With Depression Depression is characterized by sadness, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, and helplessness. These feelings do not necessarily relate to life events.
• Bipolar Depression and Bipolar Mania Although all bipolar disorders are characterized by periods of extreme mood, the main difference between them is the severity of the condition itself.
• Post-Stroke Anxiety and Depression The purpose of the given study is to ascertain how cognitive behavior therapy affects individuals with post-stroke ischemia in terms of depression reduction.
• Depression and Anxiety Management The medical staff will investigate the treatment modalities currently being utilized for the large population of patients experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
• Depression in Hispanic Culture There are different ways in which culture or ethnicity can impact the treatment of the development of mental health disorders.
• Impacts of Stress of Low Income on the Risk of Depression in Children Socioeconomic hardships lead to a decline in the quality of parenting and the development of psychological and behavioral problems in children.
• The Causes of Depression and How to Overcome It In this self-reflection essay, the author describes the causes of his depression and the steps he is taking to overcome it.
• Is depression a biological condition or a result of unrealistic expectations?
• Should employers be legally required to provide support to workers with depression?
• Do the media portrayals of depression accurately reflect people’s experiences?
• Social media contributes to depression rates by eliciting the feeling of loneliness.
• Should mental health screening be mandatory in schools?
• Should depression be reclassified as a neurological disorder?
• Antidepressants are an overused quick-fix solution to depression.
• Should non-pharmacological treatments for depression be prioritized?
• Should depression be considered a disability?
• The use of electroconvulsive therapy for depression should be banned.
• Depression: Diagnostics and Treatment Depression, when it remains unchecked, can cause detrimental effects to individuals, such as suicide, which will eventually equate to mental disorders.
• Depression and Anxiety in Mental Health Nurses Depression and anxiety are the most common mental diseases in humans. Nurses who work in mental health are at significant risk of getting psychiatric illnesses.
• Psychedelics in Depression and Anxiety Treatment Mental illnesses have become an essential part of health in the last few decades, with sufficient attention being devoted to interventions that resolve them.
• Depression and Anxiety Among African-American Children Depression and anxiety are common among African-American children and adolescents, but they face significant barriers to receiving care and treatment due to their age and race.
• Why Are Physical Activities Treatments for Depression? In this paper, the connection between physical activities and depression will be analyzed, and the common counterargument will be discussed.
• Depression in the Older Population The paper discusses depression is an actual clinical disorder for older people with specific reasons related to their age.
• Nutrition and Depression: A Psychological Perspective When discussing nutrition in toddlers and certain behavioral patterns, one of the first standpoints to pay attention to is the humanistic perspective.
• Social Media and Depression in Adolescents: The Causative Link This paper explores how social media causes depression in adolescents during the social-emotional stage of life.
• Physical Activities as Treatment for Depression This paper will discuss what factors are improved via physical exercise and how they help with treating depression.
• “Yoga for Depression” Article by The Minded Institute One can say that depression is both the biological and mental Black Death of modern humanity in terms of prevalence and negative impact on global health.
• Therapeutic Interventions for the Older Adult With Depression and Dementia The paper researches the therapeutic interventions which relevant for the older people with depression and dementia nowadays.
• Depression Among Patients With Psoriasis Considering psoriasis as the cause of the development of depressive disorders, many researchers assign a decisive role to the severe skin itching that accompanies psoriasis.
• Qi Gong Practices’ Effects on Depression Qi Gong is a set of physical and spiritual practices aimed at the balance of mind, body, and soul and the article demonstrates whether it is good or not at treating depression.
• The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Depression for Women The study analyzes the impact of forgiveness therapy on the emotional state of women who have experienced emotional abuse.
• How Covid-19 Isolation Contributed to Depression and Adolescent Suicide The pandemic affected adolescents because of stringent isolation measures, which resulted in mental challenges such as depression and anxiety, hence suicidal thoughts.
• Depression and Anxiety in Older Generation Depression and anxiety represent severe mental disorders that require immediate and prolonged treatment for patients of different ages.
• Coping with Depression After Loss of Loved Ones This case is about a 60-year-old man of African American origin. He suffered from depression after his wife’s death, which made him feel lonely and isolated.
• Postpartum Depression Screening Program Evaluation In order to manage the depression of mothers who have just delivered, it is important to introduce a routine postpartum depression-screening program in all public hospitals.
• Depression: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment Depression interferes with daily routine, wasting valuable time and lowering production. Persistent downs or blues, sadness, and anger may be signs of depression.
• Adolescent Males With Depression: Poly-Substance Abuse Depression is the most crucial aspect that makes young males indulge in poly-substance abuse. There are various ways in which male adolescents express their depression.
• The Health of the Elderly: Depression and Severe Emotional Disturbance This study is intended for males and females over the age of 50 years who are likely to suffer from depression and severe emotional disturbance.
• Suicidal Ideation & Depression in Elderly Living in Nursing Home vs. With Family This paper attempts to compare the incidence of suicidal ideation and depression among elderly individuals living in nursing homes and those living with family in the community.
• Major Depression: Symptoms and Treatment Major depression is known as clinical depression, which is characterized by several symptoms. There are biological, psychological, social, and evolutionary causes of depression.
• Health Disparity Advocacy: Clinical Depression in the U.S. Recent statistics show that approximately more than 10 million people suffer from severe depression each year in the U.S..
• Serum Neurotrophic Factors in Adolescent Depression by Pallavi et al. The research hypothesis of the article is to compare the serum concentration of neurotrophic factors in depression patients and healthy control.
• The Treatment of Anxiety and Depression The meta-analysis provides ample evidence, which indicates that CES is not only effective but also safe in the treatment of anxiety and depression.
• Depression Intervention Among Diabetes Patients The research examines the communication patterns used by depression care specialist nurses when communicating with patients suffering from diabetes.
• Postnatal Depression in New Mothers and Its Prevention Leisure activities keep new mothers suffering from postnatal depression busy and enable them to interact with other members of the society.
• Literature Evaluation on the Depression Illness The evaluation considers the articles that study such medical illness as depression from different planes of its perception.
• Treatment of Major Depression The purpose of the paper is to identify the etiology and the treatment of major depression from a psychoanalytic and cognitive perspective.
• Edinburgh Depression Screen for Treating Depression Edinburgh Depression screen is also known as Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale which is used to screen pregnant and postnatal women for emotional distress.
• Depression Treatment Variants in the US There is a debate regarding the best formula for depression treatment whereby some argue for using drugs, whereas others are advocating for therapy.
• Depression in the Elderly: Treatment Options Professionals may recommend various treatment options, including the use of antidepressants, psychotherapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy.
• Depression Treatments and Therapeutic Strategies This article examines the effectiveness of different depression treatments and reviews the therapeutic strategies, which can be helpful if the initial treatment fails.
• Can physical exercise alone effectively treat depression?
• Art therapy as a complementary treatment for depression.
• Is there a link between perfectionism and depression?
• The influence of sleep patterns on depression treatment outcomes.
• Can exposure to nature and green spaces decrease depression rates in cities?
• The relationship between diet and depression symptoms.
• The potential benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy in treating depression.
• The role of outdoor experiences in alleviating depression symptoms.
• The relationship between depression and physical health in older adults.
• The role of workplace culture in preventing employee depression.
• Depression and the Nervous System Depression is a broad condition that is associated with failures in many parts of the nervous system. It can be both the cause and the effect of this imbalance.
• Depression: Types, Symptoms, Etiology & Management Depression differs from other disorders, connected with mood swings, and it may present a serious threat to the individual’s health condition.
• The Effect of Music Therapy on Depression One major finding of study is that music therapy alleviates depression among the elderly. Music therapy could alleviate depression.
• Post-Natal Depression as an Affective Disorder Postpartum or post-natal depression (PPD) is a serious issue that can potentially be destructive to both infant and mother.
• “Neighborhood Racial Discrimination and the Development of Major Depression” by Russell The study investigates how neighborhood racial discrimination influences this severe mental disorder among African American Women.
• Adolescent Depression and Physical Health Depression in adolescents and young people under 24 is a factor that affects their physical health negatively and requires intervention from various stakeholders.
• Family Support to a Veteran With Depression Even the strongest soldiers become vulnerable to multiple health risks and behavioral changes, and depression is one of the problems military families face.
• Alcohol and Depression Article by Churchill and Farrell The selected article for this discussion is “Alcohol and Depression: Evidence From the 2014 Health Survey for England” by Sefa Awaworyi Churchill and Lisa Farrell.
• Negative Effects of Depression in Adolescents on Their Physical Health Mental disorders affect sleep patterns, physical activity, digestive and cardiac system. The purpose of the paper to provide information about adverse impacts of depression on health.
• Elderly Depression: Symptoms, Consequences, Behavior, and Therapy The paper aims to identify symptoms, behavioral inclinations of older adults, consequences of depression, and treatment ways.
• Depression in Feminist Literature of the 1890s The aim of the work is to analyze the cause of female sickness, which is their inability to express themselves and the pitiful place of a female in the society of that time.
• Major Depression Disorder: Causes and Treatment Loss in weight and appetite are some of the symptoms that a patient diagnosed with Major Depression Disorder could manifest.
• Mood Disorders: Depression Concepts Description The essay describes the nature of depression, its causes, characteristics, consequences, and possible ways of treatment.
• Geriatric Depression Diagnostics Study Protocol The research question is: how does the implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines affect the accuracy of diagnosing of depression?
• Mental Health Association of Depression and Alzheimer’s in the Elderly Depression can be a part of Alzheimer’s disease. Elderly people may have episodes of depression, but these episodes cannot be always linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
• Protective Factors Against Youthful Depression Several iterations of multiple correlation, step-wise and hierarchical regression yielded inconclusive results about the antecedents of youthful depression.
• Depression and Related Psychological Issues Depression as any mental disorder can be ascribed, regarding the use of psychoanalysis, to a person`s inability to control his destructive or sexual instincts or impulses.
• Television Habituation and Adolescent Depression The paper investigates the theory that there is a link between heavy TV viewing and adolescent depression and assess the strength of association.
• Occupational Psychology: Depression Counselling The case involves a 28-year-old employee at Data Analytics Ltd. A traumatic event affected his mental health, causing depression and reduced performance.
• Psychotherapeutic Group: Treatment of Mild-To-Moderate Depression The aim of this manual is to provide direction and employ high-quality sources dedicated to mild-to-moderate depression and group therapy to justify the choices made for the group.
• “Depression and Ways of Coping With Stress” by Orzechowska et al. The study “Depression and Ways of Coping With Stress” by Orzechowska et al. aimed the solve an issue pertinent to nursing since depression can influence any patient.
• Postpartum Depression: Evidence-Based Practice Postpartum or postnatal depression refers to a mood disorder that can manifest in a large variety of symptoms and can range from one person to another.
• Effectiveness of Telenursing in Reducing Readmission, Depression, and Anxiety The project is dedicated to testing the effectiveness of telenursing in reducing readmission, depression, and anxiety, as well as improving general health outcomes.
• Adult Depression Treatment in the United States This study characterizes the treatment of adult depression in the US. It is prompted by the findings of earlier studies, which discover the lack of efficient depression care.
• Nurses’ Interventions in Postnatal Depression Treatment This investigation evaluates the effect of nurses’ interventions on the level of women’s postnatal depression and their emotional state.
• Postpartum Depression: Evidence-Based Care Outcomes In this evidence-based study, the instances of potassium depression should be viewed as the key dependent variable that will have to be monitored in the course of the analysis.
• Postpartum Depression: Diagnosis and Treatment This paper aims to discuss the peculiarities of five one-hour classes on depression awareness, to implement this intervention among first-year mothers, and to evaluate its worth during the first year after giving birth.
• Homelessness and Depression Among Illiterate People There are various myths people have about homelessness and depression. For example, many people believe that only illiterate people can be homeless.
• Postpartum Depression In First-time Mothers The most common mental health problem associated with childbirth remains postpartum depression, which can affect both sexes, and negatively influences the newborn child.
• The Diagnosis and Treatment of Postpartum Depression Postpartum depression has many explanations, but the usual way of referring to this disease is linked to psychological problems.
• What Is Postpartum Depression? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment The prevalence of postpartum depression is quite high as one in seven new American mothers develops this health issue.
• Predictors of Postpartum Depression The phenomenon of postpartum depression affects the quality of women’s lives, as well as their self-esteem and relationships with their child.
• Depression and Self-Esteem: Research Problem Apart from descriptively studying the relationship between depression and self-esteem, a more practical approach can be used to check how interventions for enhancing self-esteem might affect depression.
• The Relationship Between Depression and Self-Esteem The topic which is proposed to be studied is the relationship between depression and self-esteem. Self-esteem can be defined as individual’s subjective evaluation of his or her worth.
• The Impact of Depression on Motherhood This work studies the impact of depression screening on prenatal and posts natal motherhood and effects on early interventions using a literature review.
• Depression in Female Cancer Patients and Survivors Depression is often associated with fatigue and sleep disturbances that prevent females from thinking positively and focusing on the treatment and its outcomes.
• Depression in Cardiac or Diabetic Patients The paper develops a framework through which risk factors associated with the development of MDD among adult patients with heart disease or diabetes can be easily identified.
• The Geriatric Population’s Depression This paper discusses how does the implementation of National Institute for Health and Care guidelines affect the accuracy of diagnosing of depression in the geriatric population.
• Problem of Depression: Recognition and Management Depression is a major health concern, which is relatively prevalent in the modern world. Indeed, in the US, 6.7 % of adults experienced an episode of the Major Depressive Disorder in 2015.
• Health and Care Excellence in Depression Management The introduction of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines can affect the accuracy of diagnosing and quality of managing depression.
• Impact of COVID-19 on Depression and Suicide Rates among Adolescents and Young People The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of coronavirus on these tragic numbers.
• Mild Depression: Psychotherapy or Pharmacotherapy The research question in this paper is: in psychiatric patients with mild depression, what is the effect of psychotherapy on health compared with pharmacotherapy?
• Postpartum Bipolar Disorder and Depression The results of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire screening of a postpartum patient suggest a bipolar disorder caused by hormonal issues and a major depressive episode.
• Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by unusual mood changes that shift from manic to depressive extremes. In the medical field, it`s called manic depression.
• The Improvement of Depression Management The present paper summarizes the context analysis that was prepared for a change project aimed at the improvement of depression management.
• Depression Management in US National Guidelines The project offers the VEGA medical center to implement the guidelines for depression management developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
• Women’s Health and Major Depression Symptoms The client’s complaints refer to sleep problems, frequent mood swings (she gets sad a lot), and the desire to stay away from social interactions.
• Predictors of Postpartum Depression: Who Is at Risk? The article “Predictors of Postpartum Depression” by Katon, Russo, and Gavin focuses on the identification of risk factors related to postnatal depression.
• Depression and Its Treatment: Racial and Ethnic Disparities The racial and ethnic disparities in depression treatment can be used for the development of quality improvement initiatives aimed at the advancement of patient outcomes.
• Lamotrigine for Bipolar Depression Management Lamotrigine sold as Lamictal is considered an effective medication helping to reduce some symptoms that significantly affect epileptic and bipolar patients’ quality of life.
• Citalopram, Methylphenidate in Geriatric Depression Citalopram typically ranges among 10-20 antidepressants for its cost-effectiveness and positive effect on patients being even more effective than reboxetine and paroxetine.
• Depression and Self-Esteem Relationship Self-esteem can be defined as an “individual’s subjective evaluation of his or her worth as a person”; it does not necessarily describe one’s real talents.
• Postpartum Depression: Methods for the Prevention Postpartum depression is a pressing clinical problem that affects new mothers, infants, and other family members. The prevalence of postpartum depression ranges between 13 and 19 percent.
• Anxiety and Depression Among Females with Cancer The study investigated the prevalence of and the potential factors of risk for anxiety and/or depression among females with early breast cancer during the first 5 years.
• Post-Partum Depression and Perinatal Dyadic Psychotherapy Post-partum depression affects more than ten percent of young mothers, and a method Perinatal Dyadic Psychotherapy is widely used to reduce anxiety.
• VEGA Medical Center: Detection of Depression Practice guidelines for the psychiatric evaluation of adults, and they can be employed to solve the meso-level problem of the VEGA medical center and its nurses.
• Depression in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Research This essay analyzes a clinical research article “Improving care for depression in obstetrics and gynecology: A randomized controlled trial” by Melville et al.
• Postpartum Depression, Prevention and Treatment Postpartum depression is a common psychiatric condition in women of the childbearing age. They are most likely to develop the disease within a year after childbirth.
• Smoking Cessation and Depression Problem The aim of the study is to scrutinize the issues inherent in the process of smoking cessation and align them with the occurrence of depression in an extensive sample of individuals.
• Evidence-Based Pharmacology: Major Depression In this paper, a certain attention to different treatment approaches that can be offered to patients with depression will be paid, including the evaluation of age implications.
• Treatment of Depression in Lesbians The aim of this paper is to review a case study of 45 years old lesbian woman who seeks treatment for depression and to discuss the biophysical, psychological, sociocultural, health system.
• Women’s Health: Predictors of Postpartum Depression The article written by Katon, Russo, and Gavin is focused on women’s health. It discusses predictors of postpartum depression (PPD), including sociodemographic and clinic risk factors.
• Depression Treatment and Management Treatment could be started only after patient is checked whether he has an allergy to the prescribed pills or not. If he is not allergic, he should also maintain clinical tests for depression.
• Depression and Thyroid Issues in Young Woman Young people are busy at studies or at work and do not pay much attention to primary symptoms unless they influence the quality of life.
• Counseling Depression: Ethical Aspects This paper explores the ethical aspects required to work with a widower who diminished passion for food, secluding himself in the house, portraying signs of depression.
• Postpartum Depression as Serious Mental Health Problem The research study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a two-step behavioral and educational intervention on the symptoms of postpartum depression in young mothers.
• European Alliances, Wars, Dictatorships and Depression The decades leading to World War I had unusual alignments. The European nations were still scrambling for Asia, Africa and parts of undeveloped Europe.
• Women’s Health: Depression as a Psychological Factor Women who identify themselves as lesbian are likely to experience depression. Biophysical, psychological, sociocultural, behavioral, and health system factors should be taken into consideration.
• Childhood Obesity and Depression Intervention The main intervention to combat depressive moods in adolescents should be linked to improving the psychological health of young people in cooperation with schools.
• Postnatal Depression Prevalence and Effects The paper analyzes the prevalence and risk factors of Postnatal (Postpartum) Depression as well as investigates the effect on the newborns whose mothers suffer from this condition.
• Depression in Older Adults Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. Evidence-based holistic intervention would provide more effective treatment for elderly patients with depression.
• Placebo and Treatments for Depression Natural alternative treatments for depression actually work better than the biochemical alternatives like antidepressants.
• Care for Depression in Obstetrics and Gynecology This work analyzes the article developed by Melville et al. in which discusses the theme of depression in obstetrics and gynecology and improving care for it.
• Depression Screening in Primary Care Screening for depression in patients suffering from long term conditions (LTCs) or persistent health problems of the body, could largely be erroneous.
• Patients with Depression’ Care: Betty Case Betty, a 45 years old woman, is referred to a local clinic because of feeling depressed. She has a history of three divorces and thinks that she is tired of living the old way.
• Clinical Depression Treatment: Issues and Solvings The paper describes and justifies the design selected for research on depression treatment. It also identifies ethical issues and proposes ways of addressing them.
• Depression in Older Persons – Psychology This article presents the research findings of a study conducted in Iran to assess how effective integrative and instrumental therapies are in the management of depression in older persons.
• Depression in the Elderly – Psychology This paper discusses how a person would know whether a relative had clinical depression or was sad due to specific changes or losses in life.
• Depression in the Elderly Depression can be defined as a state of anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness. It can affect people across all ages, who present with diverse signs and symptoms
• Postnatal Depression: Prevalence of Postnatal Depression in Bahrain The study was aimed at estimating the prevalence of postnatal depression among 237 Bahraini women who attended checkups in 20 clinical centres over a period of 2 months.

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Major Depressive Disorder: Advances in Neuroscience Research and Translational Applications

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• Volume 37 , pages 863–880, ( 2021 )

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• Zezhi Li 1 , 2 ,
• Meihua Ruan 3 ,
• Jun Chen 1 , 5 &
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Major depressive disorder (MDD), also referred to as depression, is one of the most common psychiatric disorders with a high economic burden. The etiology of depression is still not clear, but it is generally believed that MDD is a multifactorial disease caused by the interaction of social, psychological, and biological aspects. Therefore, there is no exact pathological theory that can independently explain its pathogenesis, involving genetics, neurobiology, and neuroimaging. At present, there are many treatment measures for patients with depression, including drug therapy, psychotherapy, and neuromodulation technology. In recent years, great progress has been made in the development of new antidepressants, some of which have been applied in the clinic. This article mainly reviews the research progress, pathogenesis, and treatment of MDD.

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Introduction

Neuroimaging advance in depressive disorder.

The cellular and molecular basis of major depressive disorder: towards a unified model for understanding clinical depression

Eleni Pitsillou, Sarah M. Bresnehan, … Tom C. Karagiannis

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Major depressive disorder (MDD) also referred to as depression, is one of the most severe and common psychiatric disorders across the world. It is characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, low energy, worse appetite and sleep, and even suicide, disrupting daily activities and psychosocial functions. Depression has an extreme global economic burden and has been listed as the third largest cause of disease burden by the World Health Organization since 2008, and is expected to rank the first by 2030 [ 1 , 2 ]. In 2016, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study demonstrated that depression caused 34.1 million of the total years lived with disability (YLDs), ranking as the fifth largest cause of YLD [ 3 ]. Therefore, the research progress and the clinical application of new discoveries or new technologies are imminent. In this review, we mainly discuss the current situation of research, developments in pathogenesis, and the management of depression.

Current Situation of Research on Depression

Analysis of published papers.

In the past decade, the total number of papers on depression published worldwide has increased year by year as shown in Fig. 1 A. Searching the Web of Science database, we found a total of 43,863 papers published in the field of depression from 2009 to 2019 (search strategy: TI = (depression$) or ts = ("major depressive disorder$")) and py = (2009 – 2019), Articles). The top 10 countries that published papers on the topic of depression are shown in Fig. 1 B. Among them, researchers in the USA published the most papers, followed by China. Compared with the USA, the gap in the total number of papers published in China is gradually narrowing (Fig. 1 C), but the quality gap reflected by the index (the total number of citations and the number of citations per paper) is still large, and is lower than the global average (Fig. 1 D). As shown in Fig. 1 E, the hot research topics in depression are as follows: depression management in primary care, interventions to prevent depression, the pathogenesis of depression, comorbidity of depression and other diseases, the risks of depression, neuroimaging studies of depression, and antidepressant treatment.

Analysis of published papers around the world from 2009 to 2019 in depressive disorder. A The total number of papers [from a search of the Web of Science database (search strategy: TI = (depression$) or ts = ("major depressive disorder$")) and py = (2009 – 2019), Articles)]. B The top 10 countries publishing on the topic. C Comparison of papers in China and the USA. D Citations for the top 10 countries and comparison with the global average. E Hot topics.

Analysis of Patented Technology Application

There were 16,228 patent applications in the field of depression between 2009 and 2019, according to the Derwent Innovation Patent database. The annual number and trend of these patents are shown in Fig. 2 A. The top 10 countries applying for patents related to depression are shown in Fig. 2 B. The USA ranks first in the number of depression-related patent applications, followed by China. The largest number of patents related to depression is the development of antidepressants, and drugs for neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia comorbid with depression. The top 10 technological areas of patents related to depression are shown in Fig. 2 C, and the trend in these areas have been stable over the past decade (Fig. 2 D).

Analysis of patented technology applications from 2009 to 2019 in the field of depressive disorder. A Annual numbers and trends of patents (the Derwent Innovation patent database). B The top 10 countries/regions applying for patents. C The top 10 technological areas of patents. D The trend of patent assignees. E Global hot topic areas of patents.

Analysis of technical hotspots based on keyword clustering was conducted from the Derwent Innovation database using the "ThemeScape" tool. This demonstrated that the hot topic areas are as follows (Fig. 2 E): (1) improvement for formulation and the efficiency of hydrobromide, as well as optimization of the dosage; intervention for depression comorbid with AD, diabetes, and others; (3) development of alkyl drugs; (4) development of pharmaceutical acceptable salts as antidepressants; (5) innovation of the preparation of antidepressants; (6) development of novel antidepressants based on neurotransmitters; (7) development of compositions based on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; and (8) intervention for depression with traditional Chinese medicine.

Analysis of Clinical Trial

There are 6,516 clinical trials in the field of depression in the ClinicalTrials.gov database, and among them, 1,737 valid trials include the ongoing recruitment of subjects, upcoming recruitment of subjects, and ongoing clinical trials. These clinical trials are mainly distributed in the USA (802 trials), Canada (155), China (114), France (93), Germany (66), UK (62), Spain (58), Denmark (41), Sweden (39), and Switzerland (23). The indications for clinical trials include various types of depression, such as minor depression, depression, severe depression, perinatal depression, postpartum depression, and depression comorbid with other psychiatric disorders or physical diseases, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, stroke, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson's disease.

Based on the database of the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry website, a total of 143 clinical trials for depression have been carried out in China. According to the type of research, they are mainly interventional and observational studies, as well as a small number of related factor studies, epidemiological studies, and diagnostic trials. The research content involves postpartum, perinatal, senile, and other age groups with clinical diagnosis (imaging diagnosis) and intervention studies (drugs, acupuncture, electrical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation). It also includes intervention studies on depression comorbid with coronary heart disease, diabetes, and heart failure.

New Medicine Development

According to the Cortellis database, 828 antidepressants were under development by the end of 2019, but only 292 of these are effective and active (Fig. 3 A). Large number of them have been discontinued or made no progress, indicating that the development of new drugs in the field of depression is extremely urgent.

New medicine development from 2009 to 2019 in depressive disorder. A Development status of new candidate drugs. B Top target-based actions.

From the perspective of target-based actions, the most common new drugs are NMDA receptor antagonists, followed by 5-HT targets, as well as dopamine receptor agonists, opioid receptor antagonists and agonists, AMPA receptor modulators, glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, NK1 receptor antagonists, and serotonin transporter inhibitors (Fig. 3 B).

Epidemiology of Depression

The prevalence of depression varies greatly across cultures and countries. Previous surveys have demonstrated that the 12-month prevalence of depression was 0.3% in the Czech Republic, 10% in the USA, 4.5% in Mexico, and 5.2% in West Germany, and the lifetime prevalence of depression was 1.0% in the Czech Republic, 16.9% in the USA, 8.3% in Canada, and 9.0% in Chile [ 4 , 5 ]. A recent meta-analysis including 30 Countries showed that lifetime and 12-month prevalence depression were 10.8% and 7.2%, respectively [ 6 ]. In China, the lifetime prevalence of depression ranged from 1.6% to 5.5% [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. An epidemiological study demonstrated that depression was the most common mood disorder with a life prevalence of 3.4% and a 12-month prevalence of 2.1% in China [ 10 ].

Some studies have also reported the prevalence in specific populations. The National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) survey in the USA showed that the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of depression in adolescents aged 13 to 18 were 11.0% and 7.5%, respectively [ 11 ]. A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that lifetime prevalence and 12-month prevalence were 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively, among the elderly population in China [ 12 ].

Neurobiological Pathogenesis of Depressive Disorder

The early hypothesis of monoamines in the pathophysiology of depression has been accepted by the scientific community. The evidence that monoamine oxidase inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants promote monoamine neurotransmission supports this theory of depression [ 13 ]. So far, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are still the first-line antidepressants. However, there remain 1/3 to 2/3 of depressed patients who do not respond satisfactorily to initial antidepressant treatment, and even as many as 15%–40% do not respond to several pharmacological medicines [ 14 , 15 ]. Therefore, the underlying pathogenesis of depression is far beyond the simple monoamine mechanism.

Other hypotheses of depression have gradually received increasing attention because of biomarkers for depression and the effects pharmacological treatments, such as the stress-responsive hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, neuroendocrine systems, the neurotrophic family of growth factors, and neuroinflammation.

Stress-Responsive HPA Axis

Stress is causative or a contributing factor to depression. Particularly, long-term or chronic stress can lead to dysfunction of the HPA axis and promote the secretion of hormones, including cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticotropin-releasing hormone, arginine vasopressin, and vasopressin. About 40%–60% of patients with depression display a disturbed HPA axis, including hypercortisolemia, decreased rhythmicity, and elevated cortisol levels [ 16 , 17 ]. Mounting evidence has shown that stress-induced abnormality of the HPA axis is associated with depression and cognitive impairment, which is due to the increased secretion of cortisol and the insufficient inhibition of glucocorticoid receptor regulatory feedback [ 18 , 19 ]. In addition, it has been reported that the increase in cortisol levels is related to the severity of depression, especially in melancholic depression [ 20 , 21 ]. Further, patients with depression whose HPA axis was not normalized after treatment had a worse clinical response and prognosis [ 22 , 23 ]. Despite the above promising insights, unfortunately previous studies have shown that treatments regulating the HPA axis, such as glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, do not attenuate the symptoms of depressed patients [ 24 , 25 ].

Glutamate Signaling Pathway

Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter released by synapses in the brain; it is involved in synaptic plasticity, cognitive processes, and reward and emotional processes. Stress can induce presynaptic glutamate secretion by neurons and glutamate strongly binds to ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) including N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid receptors (AMPARs) [ 26 ] on the postsynaptic membrane to activate downstream signal pathways [ 27 ]. Accumulating evidence has suggested that the glutamate system is associated with the incidence of depression. Early studies have shown increased levels of glutamate in the peripheral blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain of depressed patients [ 28 , 29 ], as well as NMDAR subunit disturbance in the brain [ 30 , 31 ]. Blocking the function of NMDARs has an antidepressant effect and protects hippocampal neurons from morphological abnormalities induced by stress, while antidepressants reduce glutamate secretion and NMDARs [ 32 ]. Most importantly, NMDAR antagonists such as ketamine have been reported to have profound and rapid antidepressant effects on both animal models and the core symptoms of depressive patients [ 33 ]. On the other hand, ketamine can also increase the AMPAR pathway in hippocampal neurons by up-regulating the AMPA glutamate receptor 1 subunit [ 34 ]. Further, the AMPAR pathway may be involved in the mechanism of antidepressant effects. For example, preclinical studies have indicated that AMPAR antagonists might attenuate lithium-induced depressive behavior by increasing the levels of glutamate receptors 1 and 2 in the mouse hippocampus [ 35 ].

Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)

Contrary to glutamate, GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. Although GABA neurons account for only a small proportion compared to glutamate, inhibitory neurotransmission is essential for brain function by balancing excitatory transmission [ 36 ]. Number of studies have shown that patients with depression have neurotransmission or functional defects of GABA [ 37 , 38 ]. Schür et al ., conducted a meta-analysis of magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies, which showed that the brain GABA level in depressive patients was lower than that in healthy controls, but no difference was found in depressive patients in remission [ 39 ]. Several postmortem studies have shown decreased levels of the GABA synthase glutamic acid decarboxylase in the prefrontal cortex of patients with depression [ 40 , 41 ]. It has been suggested that a functional imbalance of the GABA and glutamate systems contributes to the pathophysiology of depression, and activation of the GABA system might induce antidepressant activity, by which GABA A  receptor mediators α2/α3 are considered potential antidepressant candidates [ 42 , 43 ]. Genetic mouse models, such as the GABA A receptor mutant mouse and conditional the Gad1-knockout mouse (GABA in hippocampus and cerebral cortex decreased by 50%) and optogenetic methods have verified that depression-like behavior is induced by changing the level of GABA [ 44 , 45 ].

Neurotrophin Family

The neurotrophin family plays a key role in neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. The neurotrophic hypothesis of depression postulates that a deficit of neurotrophic support leads to neuronal atrophy, the reduction of neurogenesis, and the destruction of glia support, while antidepressants attenuate or reverse these pathophysiological processes [ 46 ]. Among them, the most widely accepted hypothesis involves brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This was initially triggered by evidence that stress reduces the BDNF levels in the animal brain, while antidepressants rescue or attenuate this reduction [ 47 , 48 ], and agents involved in the BDNF system have been reported to exert antidepressant-like effects [ 49 , 50 ]. In addition, mounting studies have reported that the BDNF level is decreased in the peripheral blood and at post-mortem in depressive patients, and some have reported that antidepressant treatment normalizes it [ 51 , 52 ]. Furthermore, some evidence also showed that the interaction of BDNF and its receptor gene is associated with treatment-resistant depression [ 15 ].

Recent studies reported that depressed patients have a lower level of the pro-domain of BDNF (BDNF pro-peptide) than controls. This is located presynaptically and promotes long-term depression in the hippocampus, suggesting that it is a promising synaptic regulator [ 53 ].

Neuroinflammation

The immune-inflammation hypothesis has attracted much attention, suggesting that the interactions between inflammatory pathways and neural circuits and neurotransmitters are involved in the pathogenesis and pathophysiological processes of depression. Early evidence found that patients with autoimmune or infectious diseases are more likely to develop depression than the general population [ 54 ]. In addition, individuals without depression may display depressive symptoms after treatment with cytokines or cytokine inducers, while antidepressants relieve these symptoms [ 55 , 56 ]. There is a complex interaction between the peripheral and central immune systems. Previous evidence suggested that peripheral inflammation/infection may spread to the central nervous system in some way and cause a neuroimmune response [ 55 , 57 ]: (1) Some cytokines produced in the peripheral immune response, such as IL-6 and IL-1 β, can leak into the brain through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). (2) Cytokines entering the central nervous system act directly on astrocytes, small stromal cells, and neurons. (3) Some peripheral immune cells can cross the BBB through specific transporters, such as monocytes. (4) Cytokines and chemokines in the circulation activate the central nervous system by regulating the surface receptors of astrocytes and endothelial cells at the BBB. (5) As an intermediary pathway, the immune inflammatory response transmits peripheral danger signals to the center, amplifies the signals, and shows the external phenotype of depressive behavior associated with stress/trauma/infection. (6) Cytokines and chemokines may act directly on neurons, change their plasticity and promote depression-like behavior.

Patients with depression show the core feature of the immune-inflammatory response, that is, increased concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors, chemokines, and soluble adhesion molecules in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid [ 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Peripheral immune-inflammatory response markers not only change the immune activation state in the brain that affects explicit behavior, but also can be used as an evaluation index or biological index of antidepressant therapy [ 61 , 62 ]. Li et al . showed that the level of TNF-α in patients with depression prior to treatment was higher than that in healthy controls. After treatment with venlafaxine, the level of TNF-α in patients with depression decreased significantly, and the level of TNF-α in the effective group decreased more [ 63 ]. A recent meta-analysis of 1,517 patients found that antidepressants significantly reduced peripheral IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, and CCL-2, suggesting that antidepressants reduce markers of peripheral inflammatory factors [ 64 ]. Recently, Syed et al . also confirmed that untreated patients with depression had higher levels of inflammatory markers and increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines after antidepressant treatment, while increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were found in non-responders [ 62 ]. Clinical studies have also found that anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as monoclonal antibodies and other cytokine inhibitors, may play an antidepressant role by blocking cytokines. The imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines may be involved in the pathophysiological process of depression.

In addition, a recent study showed that microglia contribute to neuronal plasticity and neuroimmune interaction that are involved in the pathophysiology of depression [ 65 ]. When activated microglia promote inflammation, especially the excessive production of pro-inflammatory factors and cytotoxins in the central nervous system, depression-like behavior can gradually develop [ 65 , 66 ]. However, microglia change polarization as two types under different inflammatory states, regulating the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors. These two types are M1 and M2 microglia; the former produces large number of pro-inflammatory cytokines after activation, and the latter produces anti-inflammatory cytokines. An imbalance of M1/M2 polarization of microglia may contribute to the pathophysiology of depression [ 67 ].

Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis

The microbiota-gut-brain axis has recently gained more attention because of its ability to regulate brain activity. Many studies have shown that the microbiota-gut-brain axis plays an important role in regulating mood, behavior, and neuronal transmission in the brain [ 68 , 69 ]. It is well established that comorbidity of depression and gastrointestinal diseases is common [ 70 , 71 ]. Some antidepressants can attenuate the symptoms of patients with irritable bowel syndrome and eating disorders [ 72 ]. It has been reported that gut microbiome alterations are associated with depressive-like behaviors [ 73 , 74 ], and brain function [ 75 ]. Early animal studies have shown that stress can lead to long-term changes in the diversity and composition of intestinal microflora, and is accompanied by depressive behavior [ 76 , 77 ]. Interestingly, some evidence indicates that rodents exhibit depressive behavior after fecal transplants from patients with depression [ 74 ]. On the other hand, some probiotics attenuated depressive-like behavior in animal studies, [ 78 ] and had antidepressant effects on patients with depression in several double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials [ 79 , 80 ].

The potential mechanism may be that gut microbiota can interact with the brain through a variety of pathways or systems, including the HPA axis, and the neuroendocrine, autonomic, and neuroimmune systems [ 81 ]. For example, recent evidence demonstrated that gut microbiota can affect the levels of neurotransmitters in the gut and brain, including serotonin, dopamine, noradrenalin, glutamate, and GABA [ 82 ]. In addition, recent studies showed that changes in gut microbiota can also impair the gut barrier and promote higher levels of peripheral inflammatory cytokines [ 83 , 84 ]. Although recent research in this area has made significant progress, more clinical trials are needed to determine whether probiotics have any effect on the treatment of depression and what the potential underlying mechanisms are.

Other Systems and Pathways

There is no doubt that several other systems or pathways are also involved in the pathophysiology of depression, such as oxidant-antioxidant imbalance [ 85 ], mitochondrial dysfunction [ 86 , 87 ], and circadian rhythm-related genes [ 88 ], especially their critical interactions ( e.g. interaction between the HPA and mitochondrial metabolism [ 89 , 90 ], and the reciprocal interaction between oxidative stress and inflammation [ 2 , 85 ]). The pathogenesis of depression is complex and all the hypotheses should be integrated to consider the many interactions between various systems and pathways.

Advances in Various Kinds of Research on Depressive Disorder

Genetic, molecular, and neuroimaging studies continue to increase our understanding of the neurobiological basis of depression. However, it is still not clear to what extent the results of neurobiological studies can help improve the clinical and functional prognosis of patients. Therefore, over the past 10 years, the neurobiological study of depression has become an important measure to understand the pathophysiological mechanism and guide the treatment of depression.

Genetic Studies

Previous twin and adoption studies have indicated that depression has relatively low rate of heritability at 37% [ 91 ]. In addition, environmental factors such as stressful events are also involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Furthermore, complex psychiatric disorders, especially depression, are considered to be polygenic effects that interact with environmental factors [ 13 ]. Therefore, reliable identification of single causative genes for depression has proved to be challenging. The first genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for depression was published in 2009, and included 1,738 patients and 1,802 controls [ 92 , 93 ]. Although many subsequent GWASs have determined susceptible genes in the past decade, the impact of individual genes is so small that few results can be replicated [ 94 , 95 ]. So far, it is widely accepted that specific single genetic mutations may play minor and marginal roles in complex polygenic depression. Another major recognition in GWASs over the past decade is that prevalent candidate genes are usually not associated with depression. Further, the inconsistent results may also be due to the heterogeneity and polygenic nature of genetic and non-genetic risk factors for depression as well as the heterogeneity of depression subtypes [ 95 , 96 ]. Therefore, to date, the quality of research has been improved in two aspects: (1) the sample size has been maximized by combining the data of different evaluation models; and (2) more homogenous subtypes of depression have been selected to reduce phenotypic heterogeneity [ 97 ]. Levinson et al . pointed out that more than 75,000 to 100,000 cases should be considered to detect multiple depression associations [ 95 ]. Subsequently, several recent GWASs with larger sample sizes have been conducted. For example, Okbay et al . identified two loci associated with depression and replicated them in separate depression samples [ 98 ]. Wray et al . also found 44 risk loci associated with depression based on 135,458 cases and 344,901 controls [ 99 ]. A recent GWAS of 807,553 individuals with depression reported that 102 independent variants were associated with depression; these were involved in synaptic structure and neural transmission, and were verified in a further 1,507,153 individuals [ 100 ]. However, even with enough samples, GWASs still face severe challenges. A GWAS only marks the region of the genome and is not directly related to the potential biological function. In addition, a genetic association with the indicative phenotype of depression may only be part of many pathogenic pathways, or due to the indirect influence of intermediate traits in the causal pathway on the final result [ 101 ].

Given the diversity of findings, epigenetic factors are now being investigated. Recent studies indicated that epigenetic mechanisms may be the potential causes of "loss of heritability" in GWASs of depression. Over the past decade, a promising discovery has been that the effects of genetic information can be directly influenced by environment factors, and several specific genes are activated by environmental aspects. This process is described as interactions between genes and the environment, which is identified by the epigenetic mechanism. Environmental stressors cause alterations in gene expression in the brain, which may cause abnormal neuronal plasticity in areas related to the pathogenesis of the disease. Epigenetic events alter the structure of chromatin, thereby regulating gene expression involved in neuronal plasticity, stress behavior, depressive behavior, and antidepressant responses, including DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and the role of non-coding RNA. These new mechanisms of trans-generational transmission of epigenetic markers are considered a supplement to orthodox genetic heredity, providing the possibility for the discovery of new treatments for depression [ 102 , 103 ]. Recent studies imply that life experiences, including stress and enrichment, may affect cellular and molecular signaling pathways in sperm and influence the behavioral and physiological phenotypes of offspring in gender-specific patterns, which may also play an important role in the development of depression [ 103 ].

Brain Imaging and Neuroimaging Studies

Neuroimaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and molecular imaging, provides a non-invasive technique for determining the underlying etiology and individualized treatment for depression. MRI can provide important data on brain structure, function, networks, and metabolism in patients with depression; it includes structural MRI (sMRI), functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Previous sMRI studies have found damaged gray matter in depression-associated brain areas, including the frontal lobe, anterior cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, putamen, thalamus, and amygdala. sMRI focuses on the thickness of gray matter and brain morphology [ 104 , 105 ]. A recent meta-analysis of 2,702 elderly patients with depression and 11,165 controls demonstrated that the volumes of the whole brain and hippocampus of patients with depression were lower than those of the control group [ 106 ]. Some evidence also showed that the hippocampal volume in depressive patients was lower than that of controls, and increased after treatment with antidepressants [ 107 ] and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) [ 108 ], suggesting that the hippocampal volume plays a critical role in the development, treatment response, and clinical prognosis of depression. A recent study also reported that ECT increased the volume of the right hippocampus, amygdala, and putamen in patients with treatment-resistant depression [ 109 ]. In addition, postmortem research supported the MRI study showing that dentate gyrus volume was decreased in drug-naive patients with depression compared to healthy controls, and was potentially reversed by treatment with antidepressants [ 110 ].

Diffusion tensor imaging detects the microstructure of the white matter, which has been reported impaired in patients with depression [ 111 ]. A recent meta-analysis that included first-episode and drug-naïve depressive patients showed that the decrease in fractional anisotropy was negatively associated with illness duration and clinical severity [ 112 ].

fMRI, including resting-state and task-based fMRI, can divide the brain into self-related regions, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and dorsomedial thalamus. Many previous studies have shown the disturbance of several brain areas and intrinsic neural networks in patients with depression which could be rescued by antidepressants [ 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 ]. Further, some evidence also showed an association between brain network dysfunction and the clinical correlates of patients with depression, including clinical symptoms [ 117 ] and the response to antidepressants [ 118 , 119 ], ECT [ 120 , 121 ], and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation [ 122 ].

It is worth noting that brain imaging provides new insights into the large-scale brain circuits that underlie the pathophysiology of depressive disorder. In such studies, large-scale circuits are often referred to as “networks”. There is evidence that a variety of circuits are involved in the mechanisms of depressive disorder, including disruption of the default mode, salience, affective, reward, attention, and cognitive control circuits [ 123 ]. Over the past decade, the study of intra-circuit and inter-circuit connectivity dysfunctions in depression has escalated, in part due to advances in precision imaging and analysis techniques [ 124 ]. Circuit dysfunction is a potential biomarker to guide psychopharmacological treatment. For example, Williams et al . found that hyper-activation of the amygdala is associated with a negative phenotype that can predict the response to antidepressants [ 125 ]. Hou et al . showed that the baseline characteristics of the reward circuit predict early antidepressant responses [ 126 ].

Molecular imaging studies, including single photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography, focus on metabolic aspects such as amino-acids, neurotransmitters, glucose, and lipids at the cellular level in patients with depression. A recent meta-analysis examined glucose metabolism and found that glucose uptake dysfunction in different brain regions predicts the treatment response [ 127 ].

The most important and promising studies were conducted by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, which investigated the human brain across 43 countries. The ENIGMA-MDD Working Group was launched in 2012 to detect the structural and functional changes associated with MDD reliably and replicate them in various samples around the world [ 128 ]. So far, the ENIGMA-MDD Working Group has collected data from 4,372 MDD patients and 9,788 healthy controls across 14 countries, including 45 cohorts [ 128 ]. Their findings to date are shown in Table 1 [ 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 ].

Objective Index for Diagnosis of MDD

To date, the clinical diagnosis of depression is subjectively based on interviews according to diagnostic criteria ( e.g. International Classification of Diseases and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual diagnostic systems) and the severity of clinical symptoms are assessed by questionnaires, although patients may experience considerable differences in symptoms and subtypes [ 138 ]. Meanwhile, biomarkers including genetics, epigenetics, peripheral gene and protein expression, and neuroimaging markers may provide a promising supplement for the development of the objective diagnosis of MDD, [ 139 , 140 , 141 ]. However, the development of reliable diagnosis for MDD using biomarkers is still difficult and elusive, and all methods based on a single marker are insufficiently specific and sensitive for clinical use [ 142 ]. Papakostas et al . showed that a multi-assay, serum-based test including nine peripheral biomarkers (soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor type II, resistin, prolactin, myeloperoxidase, epidermal growth factor, BDNF, alpha1 antitrypsin, apolipoprotein CIII, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and cortisol) yielded a specificity of 81.3% and a sensitivity of 91.7% [ 142 ]. However, the sample size was relatively small and no other studies have yet validated their results. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify biomarker models that integrate all biological variables and clinical features to improve the specificity and sensitivity of diagnosis for MDD.

Management of Depression

The treatment strategies for depression consist of pharmacological treatment and non-pharmacological treatments including psychotherapy, ECT [ 98 ], and transcranial magnetic stimulation. As psychotherapy has been shown to have effects on depression including attenuating depressive symptoms and improving the quality of life [ 143 , 144 ]; several practice guidelines are increasingly recommending psychotherapy as a monotherapy or in combination with antidepressants [ 145 , 146 ].

Current Antidepressant Treatment

Antidepressants approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are shown in Table 2 . Due to the relatively limited understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of depression, almost all the previous antidepressants were discovered by accident a few decades ago. Although most antidepressants are usually safe and effective, there are still some limitations, including delayed efficacy (usually 2 weeks) and side-effects that affect the treatment compliance [ 147 ]. In addition, <50% of all patients with depression show complete remission through optimized treatment, including trials of multiple drugs with and without simultaneous psychotherapy. In the past few decades, most antidepressant discoveries focused on finding faster, safer, and more selective serotonin or norepinephrine receptor targets. In addition, there is an urgent need to develop new approaches to obtain more effective, safer, and faster antidepressants. In 2019, the FDA approved two new antidepressants: Esketamine for refractory depression and Bresanolone for postpartum depression. Esmolamine, a derivative of the anesthetic drug ketamine, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of refractory depression, based on a large number of preliminary clinical studies [ 148 ]. For example, several randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis studies showed the efficacy and safety of Esketamine in depression or treatment-resistant depression [ 26 , 149 , 150 ]. Although both are groundbreaking new interventions for these debilitating diseases and both are approved for use only under medical supervision, there are still concerns about potential misuse and problems in the evaluation of mental disorders [ 151 ].

To date, although several potential drugs have not yet been approved by the FDA, they are key milestones in the development of antidepressants that may be modified and used clinically in the future, such as compounds containing dextromethorphan (a non-selective NMDAR antago–nist), sarcosine (N-methylglycine, a glycine reuptake inhibitor), AMPAR modulators, and mGluR modulators [ 152 ].

Neuromodulation Therapy

Neuromodulation therapy acts through magnetic pulse, micro-current, or neural feedback technology within the treatment dose, acting on the central or peripheral nervous system to regulate the excitatory/inhibitory activity to reduce or attenuate the symptoms of the disease.

ECT is one of most effective treatments for depression, with the implementation of safer equipment and advancement of techniques such as modified ECT [ 153 ]. Mounting evidence from randomized controlled trial (RCT) and meta-analysis studies has shown that rTMS can treat depressive patients with safety [ 154 ]. Other promising treatments for depression have emerged, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) [ 155 ], transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)[ 156 ], vagal nerve stimulation [ 157 ], deep brain stimulation [ 158 ] , and light therapy [ 159 ], but some of them are still experimental to some extent and have not been widely used. For example, compared to tDCS, tACS displays less sensory experience and adverse reactions with weak electrical current in a sine-wave pattern, but the evidence for the efficacy of tACS in the treatment of depression is still limited [ 160 ]. Alexander et al . recently demonstrated that there was no difference in efficacy among different treatments (sham, 10-Hz and 40-Hz tACS). However, only the 10-Hz tACS group had more responders than the sham and 40-Hz tACS groups at week 2 [ 156 ]. Further RCT studies are needed to verify the efficacy of tACS. In addition, the mechanism of the effect of neuromodulation therapy on depression needs to be further investigated.

Precision Medicine for Depression

Optimizing the treatment strategy is an effective way to improve the therapeutic effect on depression. However, each individual with depression may react very differently to different treatments. Therefore, this raises the question of personalized treatment, that is, which patients are suitable for which treatment. Over the past decade, psychiatrists and psychologists have focused on individual biomarkers and clinical characteristics to predict the efficiency of antidepressants and psychotherapies, including genetics, peripheral protein expression, electrophysiology, neuroimaging, neurocognitive performance, developmental trauma, and personality [ 161 ]. For example, Bradley et al . recently conducted a 12-week RCT, which demonstrated that the response rate and remission rates of the pharmacogenetic guidance group were significantly higher than those of the non-pharmacogenetic guidance group [ 162 ].

Subsequently, Greden et al . conducted an 8-week RCT of Genomics Used to Improve Depression Decisions (GUIDED) on 1,167 MDD patients and demonstrated that although there was no difference in symptom improvement between the pharmacogenomics-guided and non- pharmacogenomics-guided groups, the response rate and remission rate of the pharmacogenomics-guided group increased significantly [ 163 ].

A recent meta-analysis has shown that the baseline default mode network connectivity in patients with depression can predict the clinical responses to treatments including cognitive behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy, ECT, rTMS, and transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation [ 164 ]. However, so far, the biomarkers that predict treatment response at the individual level have not been well applied in the clinic, and there is still a lot of work to be conducted in the future.

Future Perspectives

Although considerable progress has been made in the study of depression during a past decade, the heterogeneity of the disease, the effectiveness of treatment, and the gap in translational medicine are critical challenges. The main dilemma is that our understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of depression is inadequate, so our understanding of depression is not deep enough to develop more effective treatment. Animal models still cannot fully simulate this heterogeneous and complex mental disorder. Therefore, how to effectively match the indicators measured in animals with those measured in genetic research or the development of new antidepressants is another important challenge.

Change history

17 may 2021.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-021-00694-9

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Acknowledgments

This review was supported by the National Basic Research Development Program of China (2016YFC1307100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81930033 and 81771465; 81401127), Shanghai Key Project of Science & Technology (2018SHZDZX05), Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical Engineering Foundation (YG2016MS48), Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (19XJ11006), the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen Municipality (SZSM201612006), the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (2012BAI01B04), and the Innovative Research Team of High-level Local Universities in Shanghai.

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Zezhi Li, Jun Chen & Yiru Fang

Department of Neurology, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200127, China

Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Information Center for Life Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, 200031, China

Meihua Ruan

Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, 200031, China

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai, 201108, China

Jun Chen & Yiru Fang

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Li, Z., Ruan, M., Chen, J. et al. Major Depressive Disorder: Advances in Neuroscience Research and Translational Applications. Neurosci. Bull. 37 , 863–880 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-021-00638-3

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Published : 13 February 2021

Issue Date : June 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-021-00638-3

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163 In Depth Depression Research Topics To Use

Your professor probably wants every student to write an amazing research paper on depression. We know; that expectations are high. If you want to get a top grade, then you need to learn how to find the best depression research topics possible. Your teacher wants to read something interesting. He wants to see that you have dedicated enough time and effort to find an original idea. Bottom line, you need to make sure your topic is unique and highly interesting. You need to write the essay perfectly as well.

Remember, a good topic can earn you some bonus points. Why would you want to miss out on these when we have a list of 163 depression research topics right here on this page? Did you know that our list of topics is free to use as you see fit? You are allowed to reword any of our topics, as long as it helps you write a great essay. Also, we will never ask a student to give us any credit for using any of our ideas. Our company is here to help as many students as possible get the best possible grades on their difficult research papers on depression.

What to Write About in Your Depression Research Papers?

So, what can you write about in your next depression research papers? We will assume you are in psychology class for this blog post, even though any student can write a research paper about depression . We all know what depression is. It’s a serious medical condition that affects the way people act, feel and even think negatively. However, you could discuss the differences between depression and sadness or even other medical conditions.

Another great idea is to talk about the different types of depression. You can compare them, of course. Postpartum depression, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and mania – are just some of the things you can talk about with depression.

Next, you can talk about the many causes of depression, as well as the important signs and symptoms of this medical problem. Another interesting idea would be to talk about people who are most at risk of depression (and discuss the risk factors that lead to depression).

Of course, you could also discuss modern methods of diagnosing depression, as well as some of the most important or prominent treatment options for this medical issue. And remember, don’t be afraid to write your depression research papers on controversial topics. We have some very interesting ideas in our list of 163 awesome depression topics. Check them out below:

Interesting Depression Research Questions

Let’s start our list with the most interesting depression research questions possible. Check out these ideas and pick one right now:

• Discuss the effects of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on depression
• Depression leads to low self-esteem
• Analyze the effects of art therapy on depression
• The effects of depression on social life
• The link between social media and depression
• Research the top 3 causes of depression
• Reasons to take depression very seriously
• Depression in veterans in the United States
• Music therapy and its effects on depression

Research Paper About Depression For Middle School

Yes, even middle school children can write a paper about depression. Here are some ideas for a research paper about depression in middle school:

• What is depression?
• Compare depression with sadness
• What causes depression?
• Discuss the symptoms of depression
• How can depression be diagnosed?
• Best treatments for depression in the UK
• What is a major depressive disorder?
• Talk about depression in autistic children
• Negative effects of Facebook on people suffering from depression
• Health problems associated with depression

Teen Depression Research Paper

Want to write an awesome teen depression research paper? Check out these ideas and pick the one you like the most:

• Analyze the causes of depression in teens in the UK
• Methods to treat depression in teenagers
• Effects of physical activity on depressive teens
• Depression and anxiety in teens in the US
• Teen depression caused by the Covid 19 pandemic
• Symptoms of depression in young adults
• Why are teens prone to depression?
• Effects of depression on school activities

Psychology Research Topics

Do you want to write about depression and psychology? We have some of the best psychology research topics on the Internet right here:

• The psychological effects of depression
• Discuss the loss of interest in fun activities
• Hallucinations caused by the major depressive disorder
• Discuss the mental status examination procedure
• The effects of alcohol abuse on depression
• How does depression cause delusions?
• Why is depression so widespread in Japan?
• Analyze the monoamine theory as it relates to depression
• Discuss the Limbic Cortical Model for diagnosing depression
• The most effective depressive disorder diagnosis in 2022

Diagnosing Depression Topics

It’s not easy to write about diagnosing depression, but you can do it. Fortunately for you, we have some excellent diagnosing depression topics below:

• An in-depth look at the symptoms of depression
• A family history of depression
• Brain imaging for diagnosing depression
• The Beck Depression Inventory: Diagnosing Depression
• Drug use: a factor that causes depression
• Analyze the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression
• Keeping an eye on TSH and Thyroxine levels
• The link between hypogonadism and depression
• Cognitive testing for diagnosing depression
• The differences between depression and dementia

Causes of Depression Ideas

Talking about the many causes of depression can be a very interesting endeavor. Check out the following causes of depression ideas:

• Discuss the biopsychosocial model of depression
• Analyze the diathesis-stress model of depression
• The role of genetics in developing depression
• Childhood abuse and its effect on depression
• Genetic factors that influence the onset of depression
• An in-depth look at the 5-HTTLPR gene
• The link between HIV/AIDS and depression
• Discuss the seasonal affective disorder
• Can B2, B6, and B12 deficiency cause depression?

Most Interesting Psychology Topics

When you are looking for the most interesting psychology topics on the Web, you should visit this page directly. Here are our latest ideas:

• Social anxiety and its effects on depression
• Coping with depression as an autistic person
• Emotional abuse and its effects on depression
• Can financial problems cause depression?
• Love problems causing depression
• Talk about the early signs of depression in children
• Is domestic violence a cause of depression?
• Top 3 ways to treat the major depressive disorder
• Bullying and cyberbullying: two of the causes of depression
• Changes in brain activity in people suffering from depression

Drugs and Depression Ideas

Looking to write about drugs and how they relate to depression? Here are some amazing drugs and depression ideas for you:

• The link between drugs and depression
• Drug abuse leading to depression
• Best 3 drugs used to treat depression
• Using sertraline (Zoloft) to mitigate depression symptoms
• The pros and cons of fluoxetine (Prozac or Sarafem)
• Negative effects of citalopram (Celexa)
• How escitalopram (Lexapro) treats the symptoms of depression
• Prescribing paroxetine (Paxil or Brisdelle) for depression
• Dangerous health effects of taking fluvoxamine (Luvox) for depression
• Addiction problems with anti-depressive medication

Mental Health Research Paper Topics

Depression and mental health are closely related, so why not pick one of our awesome mental health research paper topics:

• The brain chemistry behind depression
• Changes in brain activity during a depressive episode
• Sleep problems caused by depression
• Tiredness: a feeling that never goes away
• What causes irritability and anger in patients diagnosed with depression?
• Headaches as a symptom of depression
• Chronic body aches and depression
• Is depression a mood disorder?
• Differences between depression and bipolar disorder
• Compare and contrast depression and the cyclothymic disorder

Topics for a Depression Presentation

Are you looking for the most interesting topics for a depression presentation? Don’t hesitate to pick any of these topics right now:

• The 3 main causes of depression in the United States
• Covid-19 induced depression among teenagers in the UK
• The symptoms of the major depressive disorder
• Physical or sexual abuse as a cause of depression
• Is depression affected by age?
• Medications that cause depression among the elderly
• How genes make some people more prone to depression
• Depression: A feeling of hopelessness that never goes away
• Signs you may be suffering from a mild case of depression
• The link between depression and memory loss

Depression Treatment Topics

Writing about various treatments for depression may not be an easy thing to do, but it’s certainly interesting. Here are some nice depression treatment topics:

• Discuss three types of treatments for depression
• Compare 4 of the most important drugs that alleviate depression symptoms
• Antidepressants: the good, the bad, the ugly
• Prescribing Adapin (doxepin) for depression
• Major side effects of Anafranil (clomipramine)
• Addiction problems with Aplenzin (bupropion)
• Medicinal marijuana and its effects on depression
• Physical exercise as a depression treatment
• The best mental health apps in 2022
• Benefits of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
• What is the role of a mental health team?

Anxiety Research Paper Topics

Looking for the best anxiety research paper topics a student could ever wish for? Check out these ideas and choose the best one for your needs:

• The link between anxiety and depression
• Is anxiety the same as depression?
• What is anxiety?
• Why is anxiety dangerous?
• The symptoms of anxiety
• Treating anxiety in an effective way
• Covid-19-induced anxiety attacks
• Is depression a side-effect of anxiety?
• The emotions that trigger anxiety attacks
• Analyze the 4 levels of anxiety

Depression Symptoms Research Paper Topics

Our depression symptoms research paper topics are the absolute best – and the list has been recently updated. You can find our latest ideas below:

• Are you having a helpless outlook on your life?
• Is hating yourself a sign of depression?
• Symptoms of the Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Feeling tearful: is it a sign I am depressive?
• Inappropriate guilt and worthlessness: 2 of the symptoms of depression
• Low mood and sadness
• The symptoms of the Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
• Can depression lower your self-esteem?
• Can depression make you intolerant of other people?
• The symptoms of the major depressive syndrome

Good Research Topics for College

If you are a college student looking for the most interesting good research topics for college, you have arrived at the right place. Take a look at these awesome ideas:

• Effects of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
• An in-depth look at the CDI measure
• Analyze catatonic depression
• Psychological evaluation to detect early signs of depression
• Alcoholism and its effects on depression
• Depression in law enforcement officers in the United States
• Cognitive therapy benefits

Controversial Topics on Depression

If you are looking for some controversial topics on depression, you are in luck. Our writers have just updated the list of topics, so you will surely find a unique topic below:

• Prescribing antidepressant medication to depression patients
• Forced treatment for people going through a major depression episode
• Addiction caused by antidepressant medication
• Depression on social media
• The lack of family support

Depression Topics for High School

High school students should pick topics that are a bit easier to write about. Here is our list of depression topics for high school students:

• The effects of social media on depression
• Childhood depression causes
• Write about the ways you can heal depression
• Can family help people suffering from depression?
• Physical activity as a cure for depression
• Depression caused by stress in the workplace

Depression and Sociology Ideas

Searching for some exceptional depression and sociology ideas? We have plenty of them below. Simply pick the one you like and start writing your paper today:

• Social problems caused by depression
• Feelings of loneliness
• Anger towards other people
• Irritability and frustration feelings
• The loss of interest in enjoyable activities

Coronavirus and Depression Ideas

Our writers have come up with some amazing coronavirus and depression ideas. You can check them out in the list below (and pick any of them for your next essay, of course):

• The effects of the pandemic on depression
• Analyze the rise in depression cases in the US
• Analyze the rise of depression cases in the United Kingdom
• Depression caused by the Covid 19 virus
• Problems with the lack of human interaction

Depression Topics for a Quick Paper

If you don’t want to spend too much time working on your essay, we recommend you pick one of our depression topics for a quick paper. Here are our best ideas so far:

• Any way to cure depression?
• List the major depression symptoms
• Explain how depression occurs
• The best therapy for depressive people
• Depression’s effect on your job
• Discuss postpartum depression
• Comorbid disorders associated with depression
• Yoga to alleviate depression symptoms

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Great Depression Research Paper Topics

In this comprehensive guide on Great Depression research paper topics , we delve into the fascinating world of one of the most significant economic crises in history. As students studying history and assigned to write a research paper, it is essential to explore a wide range of engaging and thought-provoking topics related to the Great Depression. This page offers a comprehensive list of Great Depression research paper topics, an article on the Great Depression and its impact, expert advice on topic selection, tips on writing an effective research paper, and information about iResearchNet’s writing services. By following this guide, you will gain valuable insights and resources to unleash your potential and excel in your Great Depression research papers.

100 Great Depression Research Paper Topics

The Great Depression was a period of immense economic turmoil that gripped the world in the 1930s. It left a profound impact on various aspects of society and shaped the course of history. As a student of history, delving into the depths of this significant era provides a multitude of research opportunities. In this section, we present a comprehensive list of Great Depression research paper topics, divided into ten categories. These topics encompass a wide range of subjects and perspectives, allowing you to explore different facets of this transformative period.

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Economic Causes and Effects:

• The Stock Market Crash of 1929: Causes, Consequences, and Lessons Learned
• Banking Failures and the Collapse of the Financial System during the Great Depression
• Unemployment and its Social and Economic Implications during the Great Depression
• The Role of Government Policies in Shaping the Economic Landscape of the Great Depression
• The Impact of International Trade and Protectionism on the Global Economy during the Great Depression
• Changes in Monetary and Fiscal Policy Approaches in Response to the Great Depression
• Economic Inequality and the Great Depression: Examining the Disparities
• The Role of Consumer Spending and Investment Patterns in Shaping the Great Depression
• Economic Recovery Efforts and the Effectiveness of New Deal Programs
• Comparative Analysis of the Great Depression with Other Economic Crises

Social Impact and Cultural Changes:

• Poverty and Homelessness in the Great Depression: Causes, Experiences, and Responses
• Gender Roles and Women’s Experiences during the Great Depression
• African Americans and the Great Depression: Struggles, Activism, and Cultural Expression
• Art and Literature as Responses to the Great Depression: Depictions of Hardships and Resilience
• Social Movements and Labor Unions during the Great Depression: Strikes, Protests, and Reforms
• The Role of Education and Intellectual Life during the Great Depression
• Migration and Mobility during the Great Depression: Impact on Communities and Culture
• The Influence of Music and Entertainment on Society during the Great Depression
• Changes in Family Dynamics and Relationships during the Great Depression
• Public Health and Social Welfare Systems during the Great Depression: Challenges and Reforms

Government Interventions and Policies:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal: Analyzing its Objectives, Implementation, and Results
• Role of the Federal Reserve in the Great Depression: Monetary Policy and Regulation
• Social Security Act of 1935: Origins, Implementation, and Long-Term Impact
• Agricultural Adjustment Act and its Effects on the Farming Community
• The National Industrial Recovery Act: Assessing its Goals, Strategies, and Legacy
• The Works Progress Administration (WPA): Job Creation and Infrastructure Projects
• The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): Environmental Conservation during the Great Depression
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Regulating Financial Markets after the Crash
• The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA): Providing Relief to the Needy
• The Role of International Organizations and Agreements in Addressing the Global Effects of the Great Depression

Global Perspectives:

• The Global Spread and Impact of the Great Depression: Comparative Analysis
• The Great Depression in Europe: Causes, Effects, and Recovery Strategies
• The Great Depression and the Rise of Fascism: Examining the Interconnections
• Latin America’s Experience of the Great Depression: Economic Challenges and Political Shifts
• The Great Depression in Asia: Exploring Economic, Social, and Political Transformations
• The Role of International Financial Institutions in Mitigating the Global Effects of the Great Depression
• The Impact of Colonialism and Imperialism on Economic Vulnerability during the Great Depression
• The Great Depression and International Relations: Shifting Power Dynamics and Diplomatic Challenges
• Lessons Learned from the Great Depression: Policy Recommendations for Future Economic Crises
• Historical Comparisons: Assessing the Great Depression in Relation to Other Global Economic Downturns

Psychological and Social Welfare:

• Psychological Impact of the Great Depression on Individuals and Communities
• Mental Health Services and the Understanding of Mental Illness during the Great Depression
• The Role of Charity and Philanthropy in Assisting those Affected by the Great Depression
• Social Welfare Programs and Relief Efforts: Examining their Design and Effectiveness
• The Influence of Social Work and Social Workers during the Great Depression
• The Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in Providing Support during the Great Depression
• The Impact of Childhood Experiences during the Great Depression: Long-Term Effects
• Social Assistance and Relief Programs: Comparing Strategies and Approaches
• Social Movements and Grassroots Activism for Social Justice during the Great Depression
• The Influence of Public Opinion and Mass Media on Social Welfare Policies

Impact on Specific Industries:

• The Automobile Industry during the Great Depression: Challenges, Innovations, and Recovery
• Impact of the Great Depression on the Banking and Financial Sector
• Film Industry during the Great Depression: Entertainment and Escapism in Troubled Times
• The Construction Industry during the Great Depression: Infrastructure Development and Public Works Projects
• The Impact of the Great Depression on the Textile and Manufacturing Industries
• Changes in the Agricultural Sector during the Great Depression: Farming Practices and Government Interventions
• Mining and Natural Resource Industries during the Great Depression: Challenges and Adaptations
• The Role of Labor Unions in Protecting Workers’ Rights during the Great Depression
• Impact of the Great Depression on the Shipping and Maritime Industry
• The Aviation Industry during the Great Depression: Technological Advances and Commercial Aviation Expansion

Political Climate and Leadership:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Leadership during the Great Depression: Policies and Legacy
• Opposition and Criticisms of New Deal Programs: Political Debates and Alternative Proposals
• Role of Political Parties and Electoral Shifts during the Great Depression
• Populist Movements and Responses to Economic Hardships: The Influence of Radical Politics
• The Role of Women in Politics during the Great Depression: Activism and Reform Efforts
• The Impact of the Great Depression on the Presidency and the Executive Branch
• Socialism, Communism, and the Great Depression: Ideological Shifts and Debates
• The Role of the Supreme Court in Shaping New Deal Policies and their Constitutionality
• The Influence of International Relations and Geopolitics on National Responses to the Great Depression
• Political Movements and Grassroots Activism during the Great Depression: Lessons for Today

Cultural and Artistic Responses:

• Literature of the Great Depression: Themes, Styles, and Authors
• Visual Arts during the Great Depression: Depictions of Hardship and Social Commentary
• Music and the Great Depression: Exploring Jazz, Blues, and Folk Music Movements
• Theatre and Performance Arts during the Great Depression: Escapism and Social Critique
• Photography and Documentary Projects: Capturing the Realities of the Great Depression
• Radio and Broadcasting during the Great Depression: Entertainment and News Dissemination
• The Influence of Hollywood Films on Popular Culture during the Great Depression
• Dance and Dance Halls during the Great Depression: Cultural Expression and Social Gathering
• Sports and Athletics during the Great Depression: Resilience and National Identity
• Fashion and Popular Culture Trends during the Great Depression: Reflections of Social Change

Regional Perspectives:

• The Great Depression in the United States: Regional Variations and Local Impacts
• The Great Depression in Rural Communities: Challenges and Agricultural Adjustments
• Urban Areas during the Great Depression: Impact on Cities, Migration, and Community Dynamics
• The Great Depression in Europe: Regional Responses and Recovery Strategies
• The Great Depression in Asia: Regional Economic Shifts and Political Unrest
• Latin America’s Experience of the Great Depression: Economic Policies and Social Transformations
• The Great Depression in Africa: Colonial Economies and Indigenous Responses
• The Impact of the Great Depression on the Caribbean: Trade, Tourism, and Political Instability
• The Great Depression in the Middle East: Oil, Colonialism, and Economic Resilience
• The Great Depression in Oceania: Impacts on Indigenous Communities and Trade Relations

Lessons Learned and Legacy:

• Economic Policies and Regulations Implemented Post-Great Depression: Analysis and Evaluation
• The Great Depression’s Influence on Modern Economic Thought and Macroeconomic Theory
• The Great Depression and the Formation of International Financial Institutions
• Comparative Analysis of the Great Depression with Subsequent Economic Crises
• The Long-Term Social and Economic Consequences of the Great Depression
• Historical Reflections on the Lasting Impact of the Great Depression: Lessons for Today
• The Great Depression’s Influence on Government Intervention and Social Welfare Programs
• The Role of Economic Forecasting and Risk Management in Post-Great Depression Policies
• The Great Depression and Changes in Economic Theory and Policy Approaches
• Evaluating the Successes and Failures of Recovery Efforts during the Great Depression

This comprehensive list of Great Depression research paper topics offers a diverse array of subjects for exploration and analysis. Whether you are interested in the economic, social, cultural, political, or regional aspects of this era, there is a topic to suit your research interests. By selecting a topic from this list, you can delve into the complexities of the Great Depression, uncovering its causes, effects, and the lessons it holds for the present and future.

The Great Depression: Exploring its Impact and Historical Significance

The Great Depression stands as one of the most transformative periods in modern history, leaving an indelible mark on societies around the world. This 2000-word article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the Great Depression, its historical context, and its profound significance. By delving into the range of Great Depression research paper topics, we can gain valuable insights into the causes and effects of the economic collapse, its social impact, and the government responses that shaped the path to recovery. Through the study of the Great Depression, we can better understand the complexities of economic systems, social inequality, and the role of government intervention in times of crisis.

• The Historical Context : The article begins by setting the stage for the Great Depression, exploring the economic prosperity of the 1920s, the underlying factors that contributed to the collapse, and the global context in which it unfolded. It highlights the interconnectedness of economies and the far-reaching consequences of the financial downturn.
• The Causes of the Great Depression : This section delves into the causes of the Great Depression, examining factors such as the stock market crash of 1929, the unsustainable economic practices of the time, and the impact of international events. It explores the intricate web of circumstances that led to the onset of the devastating economic downturn.
• The Effects of the Great Depression : Here, we explore the wide-ranging effects of the Great Depression on individuals, families, businesses, and entire nations. We discuss the soaring unemployment rates, widespread poverty, loss of homes and farms, and the resulting social and psychological impact on affected communities. The section also highlights the global ramifications, including a decline in international trade, financial instability, and political shifts.
• Social Impact and Cultural Changes : The Great Depression had a profound impact on society, reshaping social norms, cultural attitudes, and the fabric of communities. This section explores the challenges faced by various social groups, such as women, minorities, and workers. It discusses the emergence of social movements, the role of art and literature as responses to the crisis, and the cultural shifts that took place during this period.
• Government Responses and Policies : The government responses to the Great Depression played a critical role in shaping the trajectory of recovery. This section examines the policies implemented by governments around the world, focusing on notable initiatives such as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the United States. It analyzes the effectiveness of these policies, their impact on the economy and society, and the enduring legacy of government intervention.
• Economic Systems and Lessons Learned : The Great Depression prompted a reevaluation of economic systems and theories. This section explores the debates surrounding capitalism, socialism, and the role of government regulation. It discusses the long-term implications of the Great Depression on economic thought, policy approaches, and the establishment of social safety nets.
• Social Inequality and Social Justice : Studying the Great Depression provides an opportunity to examine the deep-rooted issues of social inequality and the pursuit of social justice. This section explores the unequal distribution of wealth and resources during the period, the impact on marginalized communities, and the subsequent efforts to address systemic inequalities. It also examines the role of labor unions and their fight for worker rights during this tumultuous time.
• Government Intervention and the Role of Institutions : The Great Depression led to a significant expansion of government intervention and the establishment of new institutions. This section examines the role of institutions such as the Federal Reserve, the creation of social welfare programs, and the impact of regulatory bodies. It evaluates the lasting effects of these interventions on economic stability, social welfare, and the relationship between the government and the private sector.
• Global Impact and International Relations : The Great Depression had a profound effect on the global stage, reshaping international relations and sparking geopolitical shifts. This section explores how different countries were affected by the economic downturn and how it influenced their foreign policies. It also examines the efforts to address the global economic crisis through international cooperation and the establishment of institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
• Lessons Learned and Legacy : In this final section, we reflect on the lessons learned from the Great Depression and its enduring legacy. It discusses the reforms and regulations implemented to prevent a similar economic catastrophe in the future, the importance of financial regulation, and the significance of social safety nets. It also examines the long-term impact on economic policies, the role of the government in managing economic crises, and the relevance of studying the Great Depression in the modern world.

The Great Depression stands as a defining moment in history, with profound implications for economic, social, and political systems. By studying the causes, effects, social impact, and government responses of this period, we gain valuable insights into the complexities of economic systems, social inequality, and the role of government intervention. Exploring the range of Great Depression research paper topics allows us to deepen our understanding of this transformative era and its relevance to contemporary society.

How to Choose Great Depression Research Paper Topics

Selecting an engaging and meaningful research topic is crucial when delving into the realm of Great Depression studies. This section provides valuable guidance on how to choose the most suitable research paper topic that aligns with your interests, academic goals, and the significance of this historical period. By following these ten tips, you can navigate through the vast array of potential Great Depression research paper topics and identify a research question that allows for a comprehensive exploration of the Great Depression.

• Reflect on Personal Interests : Begin by considering your personal interests within the broader context of the Great Depression. Reflect on aspects such as social history, economic policies, cultural impact, or political responses. Exploring Great Depression research paper topics that resonate with your passion will ensure a deeper engagement and motivation throughout the research process.
• Conduct Preliminary Research : Engage in preliminary research to familiarize yourself with the existing scholarship on the Great Depression. This will help you identify gaps in the literature and uncover potential avenues for further investigation. Consult academic journals, books, and reputable online sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current scholarly discourse.
• Focus on Specific Regions or Time Periods : The Great Depression had a global impact, affecting different regions in unique ways. Consider narrowing your research focus to a specific country, region, or even a particular community. This allows for a more nuanced analysis and provides an opportunity to examine localized experiences and responses to the economic crisis.
• Analyze Primary and Secondary Sources : Utilize both primary and secondary sources to gather evidence and support your research. Primary sources, such as letters, diaries, government records, and newspapers from the period, offer firsthand accounts and insights. Secondary sources, including scholarly articles and books, provide critical analysis and interpretations of the Great Depression.
• Explore Different Aspects of the Great Depression : The Great Depression is a multi-faceted historical event that impacted various spheres of life. Consider exploring different aspects, such as the economic causes, social consequences, political responses, cultural expressions, or international relations. By delving into different dimensions, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the era.
• Examine the Impact on Different Social Groups : The Great Depression affected people from all walks of life differently. Explore the experiences of various social groups, such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, farmers, workers, and the urban poor. Investigate how these groups navigated through the economic crisis and the impact it had on their lives.
• Analyze Government Policies and Programs : Government responses played a significant role in addressing the Great Depression. Choose a research topic that focuses on specific government policies, programs, or initiatives implemented during this time. Analyze their effectiveness, impact on the economy and society, and the long-term consequences of these interventions.
• Investigate Cultural Responses and Artistic Expressions : The Great Depression fostered a wealth of cultural responses, including literature, music, photography, and visual arts. Explore the cultural expressions of the era and their reflection of the social and economic climate. Analyze the works of artists, writers, and musicians to understand how they captured the experiences and emotions of the time.
• Consider Comparative Analysis : Comparative analysis allows for a deeper understanding of the Great Depression by examining similarities and differences between different countries, regions, or time periods. Compare the economic, social, and political responses of multiple nations or explore the impact of the Great Depression on different continents.
• Engage with Historiographical Debates : The study of the Great Depression is dynamic, with ongoing debates and reinterpretations of historical events and their significance. Choose a research topic that engages with these historiographical debates and contributes to the scholarly discourse. By exploring conflicting interpretations, you can develop a nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding the Great Depression.

Choosing a research topic on the Great Depression requires careful consideration and a thoughtful approach. By reflecting on personal interests, conducting preliminary research, focusing on specific regions or time periods, analyzing primary and secondary sources, and exploring various aspects and social groups, you can identify a research question that aligns with your interests and academic goals. Engaging with government policies, cultural expressions, and comparative analysis provides further avenues for exploration. Remember to contribute to historiographical debates and approach your research with critical thinking and analytical skills. By following these ten tips, you will be well-equipped to embark on a successful research journey into the depths of the Great Depression.

How to Write a Great Depression Research Paper

Writing a research paper on the Great Depression requires careful planning, thorough research, and effective communication of your findings. This section provides valuable guidance on how to structure and write a successful research paper that showcases your understanding of this significant historical period. By following these ten tips, you can craft a compelling and insightful paper on the Great Depression.

• Formulate a Clear Thesis Statement : Start your research paper with a clear and concise thesis statement that articulates the main argument or focus of your study. The thesis statement should guide your research and provide a roadmap for your paper, ensuring coherence and direction throughout.
• Conduct In-Depth Research : Engage in thorough research to gather relevant and reliable sources that support your thesis statement. Utilize primary and secondary sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Great Depression, its causes, impact, and historical context. Take notes and organize your research material for easy reference.
• Analyze Primary and Secondary Sources : Carefully analyze the primary and secondary sources you have collected. Critically evaluate the credibility, biases, and limitations of each source. Extract key information and evidence that supports your thesis and provides a robust foundation for your arguments.
• Outline Your Paper : Create a clear and detailed outline that serves as a roadmap for your research paper. Organize your main points, arguments, and supporting evidence in a logical and coherent manner. The outline will help you maintain focus, structure your paper, and ensure a smooth flow of ideas.
• Develop a Strong Introduction : Craft an engaging introduction that captures the reader’s attention and provides context for your research. Clearly state your thesis statement and provide a brief overview of the main points you will discuss in your paper. Set the tone for your research and highlight the significance of studying the Great Depression.
• Present a Coherent Argument : Structure your paper around a well-developed argument that supports your thesis statement. Present your main points in a logical sequence, providing evidence and analysis to support each claim. Ensure that your arguments flow smoothly and are interconnected, building a coherent narrative throughout your paper.
• Analyze Primary and Secondary Sources : Integrate your analysis of primary and secondary sources into your research paper. Use direct quotes, paraphrasing, and summarization techniques to incorporate evidence from your sources. Analyze the sources critically, demonstrating your ability to interpret and evaluate historical material.
• Provide Historical Context : Situate your research within the historical context of the Great Depression. Provide background information, discuss relevant events, policies, and social conditions that influenced the period. Help your readers understand the broader significance of your research and its relationship to the historical context.
• Use Clear and Concise Language : Write in a clear and concise manner, avoiding unnecessary jargon or complex language. Ensure that your ideas are easily understandable and your arguments are well-articulated. Use proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure to enhance the clarity and readability of your paper.
• Conclude with a Strong Summary : End your research paper with a strong and concise summary that restates your thesis statement and highlights the key findings of your study. Emphasize the significance of your research and its contribution to the understanding of the Great Depression. Reflect on the implications and broader lessons that can be drawn from your analysis.

Writing a research paper on the Great Depression requires careful planning, thorough research, and effective communication of your findings. By formulating a clear thesis statement, conducting in-depth research, and analyzing primary and secondary sources, you can develop a strong foundation for your paper. Organizing your thoughts with a well-structured outline, crafting an engaging introduction, and presenting a coherent argument will ensure a compelling and insightful research paper. Remember to provide historical context, use clear and concise language, and conclude with a strong summary that highlights the significance of your research. By following these ten tips, you will be well-prepared to write a comprehensive and impactful research paper on the Great Depression.

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• Expert Degree-Holding Writers : Our writing team consists of experienced and knowledgeable writers who hold advanced degrees in history and related fields. They have a deep understanding of the Great Depression and can deliver well-researched and insightful papers that meet your academic requirements.
• Custom Written Works : We provide custom-written research papers tailored to your specific instructions and guidelines. Our writers start from scratch, ensuring originality and authenticity in every paper. You can trust that your Great Depression research paper will be unique and plagiarism-free.
• In-Depth Research : Our writers are skilled in conducting thorough and comprehensive research on the Great Depression. They have access to a wide range of reputable sources and scholarly databases to gather the most relevant and up-to-date information for your research paper.
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60 Outstanding Depression Research Paper Topics

Depression has been a subject of interest for quite a while now. Teens have formed the majority of the victims. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, depression has escalated to another level. That is why a research paper on depression is inevitable for you as a college student. First things first,

Depression Research Paper Outline

Whenever you’re confronted with such a paper, the groundbreaking step would be to determine the outline. It will act as a skeleton upon which you will fill with the meet. So, how does a depression research paper look like for you?

• The topic contributes significantly to the scope of what you intend to write on in your paper. A research topic’s success depends on its originality, currency, and emotional appeal, especially on such a subject.
• The Introduction – It contains opening remarks which bring to light the background of the topic. You can also include recent developments in depression. The thesis statement should give a clear idea of the arguments in the body paragraphs.
• The body – You will arrange these in order of seniority – from the most relevant arguments to the least. Include reputable and authoritative statements as evidence for your paper. If you choose to include statistics, ensure that they are accurate.
• The conclusion – You will summarize your results and findings and recommend them if possible. Since this is a practical topic in everyday life, include a call to action statement here.

Once you get your outline right, here are a few things to consider when writing this kind of paper:

Do not include topics resulting in high emotions Ensure that you have adequate information for the topic you choose Avoid using words that may cause more depression on the reader

Therefore, you can discuss any of the following areas:

• Depression disorders
• How to manage it
• Ways of helping the victims

To get you jammed up, here are 60 of the best depression topics for research paper. Use them to draw inspiration for your next assignment. If you’re not inspired by the subject or don’t have the time to spend writing essays, it’s best to let professionals write a paper for you. 

Depression Topics For Research Paper on the Causes

• How upsetting or stressful life events such as death can lead to depression
• Why people feel low after a severe illness or undergoing a major surgery
• The role of the ‘downward spiral’ of events in triggering depression
• Difficult social and economic circumstances that cause depression
• Personality traits such as low self-esteem and their role in depression
• Is depression a hereditary illness passed down to family members?
• Why some women may be vulnerable to depression after giving birth
• Why the feeling of loneliness is a significant risk
• How alcohol and drugs can leave you in a state of depression
• Longstanding illnesses that may trigger depression among people

Topic Ideas For a Postpartum Depression Research Paper

• The impact of hormone level drop after giving birth
• Why you may be depressed if you didn’t want to get pregnant
• Reasons why new moms may be at risk of getting depressed
• How long does postpartum take to subside in new mothers?
• What causes intense irritability and anger after giving birth?
• Why would one develop the fear of not being a good mother?
• Can postpartum depression lead to a mother harming her child?
• Impact of postpartum depression on a mother’s ability to think straight
• Symptoms of postpartum depression in new fathers
• How to help new fathers adopt responsibility

Research Paper on Depression in College Students

• Why do most college students in their last year experience depression?
• Are lecturers to blame for depression among students?
• The role of homework in causing depression among students
• Consequences and risks of depression among students
• The problem of relationships in college
• Increasing cases of suicide among students
• Stressful college life events that stir depression
• Self-harming behaviors among college students
• How to diagnose and treat depression among college students
• Depression and academic performance among students

Teen Depression Research Paper Topic Ideas

• Excessive use of technology among teens and depression
• Why most teens seek out drugs as a remedy for depression
• Financial stresses on teens and how they are compelled to depression
• Why most teens feel depressed after a relationship break-up
• Debt and depression among teens
• The role of parents in managing depression among teens
• The place of peer pressure in causing depression among teenagers
• Can parental over-involvement lead to the development of stress among teens?
• Why most teens do not seek help why they are depressed
• Who are the most vulnerable between the male and female teens, and why?

Topics For Coronavirus and Depression Research Papers

• Why are there increased cases of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How to deal with depression while staying at home
• How the government can help alleviate depression among citizens
• How to deal with a job loss during COVID-19
• How loneliness is killing many people in their homes
• Stigmatization and its impact on COVID-19 patients
• Why the media is the most significant source of depression during the coronavirus
• Activities you can engage in during the coronavirus pandemic
• How journaling can help you overcome depression
• Ways of fending for low-income families

Depression Research Questions To Consider in 2023

• Can you trust a psychologist to help?
• Why do most depression cases end up in suicide?
• Should we have a national day on sensitization against depression?
• What is the role of the family in combating depression?
• How should we treat depressed friends?
• Should we share our depression stories on Facebook?
• Do children experience depression?
• Why should you check up on your friends daily?
• Is cyber-bullying killing people?
• Why teens should not engage in relationships

Don’t afraid to ask for help with your college papers. Just leave a message, “Please, help me do my assignment !” and do not let your depression research paper be the reason why you feel stressed. If you need high qualitative help with your research or other subjects, contact our expert writers. We offer quality, cheap, and fast, professional paper writing help to college students. Order your paper today and get time to relax!

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

This article is part of the research topic.

Unconventional Resources: Provenance Analysis, Sediment Transport, Reservoir Evaluation, Geo-energy

Identification of Milankovitch sedimentary cycle in Fengcheng Formation, Mahu Depression: a case study of well Maye 1 Provisionally Accepted

• 1 PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, China
• 2 School of Geosciences, Yangtze University, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The sedimentary cycle of Fengcheng Formation in Junggar Basin changes rapidly and is difficult to identify. The low classification accuracy of high-frequency fine-grained sedimentary cycles restricts the exploration of unconventional shale oil and gas.Full-interval coring of well Maye 1 provides a solid foundation for small-layer research. This paper studies the high-frequency sedimentary cycles of the Milan Kovacevic in the Fengcheng Formation using techniques such as spectral analysis and wavelet transformation, and establishes a high-resolution astronomical age scale. The study reveals the control of orbital periodic changes on organic matter in mudstone, and based on this, identifies the sweet spots. Using the 405ka long-period eccentricity, 100ka short-period eccentricity, and 42736a long-period axial tilt as semi-quantitative criteria for the fourth, fifth, and sixth-order sequence division, the Fengcheng Formation is divided into two fourth-order sequence cycles, nine fifth-order sequence cycles, and 16 sixth-order sequence cycles. The application of the 405ka long-period eccentricity reveals two large-scale lake regression-transgression sedimentary cycles in the regional Fengcheng Formation, and a maximum lake flooding surface in the middle period of Feng II, corresponding to high organic matter abundance and great hydrocarbon generation potential. The application of the 100ka short-period eccentricity identifies eight sweet spot intervals in the Fengcheng Formation of Well Maye 1, which is consistent with the nuclear magnetic interpretation results. The research provides a semi-quantitative basis for the identification of high-frequency sedimentary cycles and sweet spot intervals in the Fengcheng Formation of the Mahu depression in the Junggar Basin, and provides a reference for the subsequent division of highfrequency fine-grained sedimentary cycles.

Keywords: Junggar Basin, Fengcheng Formation, Shale oil, Sedimentary cycle, Milankovitch, Sweet spot recognition Junggar Basin

Received: 24 Feb 2024; Accepted: 02 Apr 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Wang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mx. Ran Wang, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, China

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Evolution and Emerging Trends in Depression Research From 2004 to 2019: A Literature Visualization Analysis

1 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

Xuemei Tian

2 School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

Xianrui Wang

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Depression has become a major threat to human health, and researchers around the world are actively engaged in research on depression. In order to promote closer research, the study of the global depression knowledge map is significant. This study aims to map the knowledge map of depression research and show the current research distribution, hotspots, frontiers, and trends in the field of depression research, providing researchers with worthwhile information and ideas. Based on the Web of Science core collection of depression research from 2004 to 2019, this study systematically analyzed the country, journal, category, author, institution, cited article, and keyword aspects using bibliometric and data visualization methods. A relationship network of depression research was established, highlighting the highly influential countries, journals, categories, authors, institutions, cited articles, and keywords in this research field. The study identifies great research potential in the field of depression, provides scientific guidance for researchers to find potential collaborations through collaboration networks and coexistence networks, and systematically and accurately presents the hotspots, frontiers, and shortcomings of depression research through the knowledge map of global research on depression with the help of information analysis and fusion methods, which provides valuable information for researchers and institutions to determine meaningful research directions.

Introduction

Health issues are becoming more and more important to people due to the continuous development of health care. The social pressures on people are becoming more and more pronounced in a social environment that is developing at an increasing rate. Prolonged exposure to stress can have a negative impact on brain development ( 1 ), and depression is one of the more typical disorders that accompany it. Stress will increase the incidence of depression ( 2 ), depression has become a common disease ( 3 ), endangering people's physical health. Depression is a debilitating mental illness with mood disorders, also known as major depression, clinical depression, or melancholia. In human studies of the disease, it has been found that depression accounts for a large proportion of the affected population. According to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics in 2019, there are more than 350 million people with depression worldwide, with an increase of about 18% in the last decade and an estimated lifetime prevalence of 15% ( 4 ), it is a major cause of global disability and disease burden ( 5 ), and depression has quietly become a disease that threatens hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Along with the rise of science communication research, the quantification of science is also flourishing. As a combination of “data science” and modern science, bibliometrics takes advantage of the explosive growth of research output in the era of big data, and uses topics, authors, publications, keywords, references, citations, etc. as research targets to reveal the current status and impact of the discipline more accurately and scientifically. Whereas, there is not a wealth of bibliometric studies related to depression. Fusar-Poli et al. ( 6 ) used bibliometrics to systematically evaluate cross-diagnostic psychiatry. Hammarström et al. ( 7 ) used bibliometrics to analyze the scientific quality of gender-related explanatory models of depression in the medical database PubMed. Tran et al. ( 8 ) used the bibliometric analysis of research progress and effective interventions for depression in AIDS patients. Wang et al. ( 9 ) used bibliometric methods to analyze scientific studies on the comorbidity of pain and depression. Shi et al. ( 10 ) performed a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 cited articles on biomarkers in the field of depression. Dongping et al. ( 11 ) used bibliometric analysis of studies on the association between depression and gut flora. An Chunping et al. ( 12 ) analyzed the literature on acupuncture for depression included in PubMed based on bibliometrics. Yi and Xiaoli ( 13 ) used a bibliometric method to analyze the characteristics of the literature on the treatment of depression by Chinese medicine in the last 10 years. Zhou and Yan ( 14 ) used bibliometric method to analyze the distribution of scientific and technological achievements on depression in Peoples R China. Guaijuan ( 15 ) performed a bibliometric analysis of the interrelationship between psoriasis and depression. Econometric analysis of the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and depression was performed by Yunzhi et al. ( 16 ) and Shauni et al. ( 17 ) performed a bibliometric analysis of domestic and international research papers on depression-related genes from 2003 to 2007. A previous review of depression-related bibliometric studies revealed that there is no bibliometric analysis of global studies in the field of depression, including country network analysis, journal network analysis, category network analysis, author network analysis, institutional network analysis, literature co-citation analysis, keyword co-presentation analysis, and cluster analysis.

The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive and systematic literature-based data mining and metrics analysis of depression-related research. More specifically, this analysis focuses on cooperative network and co-presentation analysis, based on the 36,477 papers included in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2004 to 2019, and provides an in-depth analysis of cooperative network, co-presentation network, and co-citation through modern metrics and data visualization methods. Through the mining of key data, the data correlation is further explored, and the results obtained can be used to scientifically and reasonably predict the depression-related information. This study aims to show the spatial and temporal distribution of research countries, journals, authors, and institutions in the field of depression in a more concise manner through a relational network. A deeper understanding of the internal structure of the research community will help researchers and institutions to establish more accurate and effective global collaborations, in line with the trend of human destiny and globalization. In addition, the study will allow for the timely identification of gaps in current research. A more targeted research direction will be established, a more complete picture of the new developments in the field of depression today will be obtained, and the research protocol will be informed for further adjustments. The results of these analyses will help researchers understand the evolution of this field of study. Overall, this paper uses literature data analysis to find research hotspots in the field of depression, analyze the knowledge structure within different studies, and provide a basis for predicting research frontiers. This study analyzed the literature in the field of depression using CiteSpace 5.8.R2 (64-bit) to analyze collaborative networks, including country network analysis, journal network analysis, category network analysis, researcher network analysis, and institutional network analysis using CiteSpace 5.8.R2 (64-bit). In addition, literature co-citation, keyword co-presentation, and cluster analysis of depression research hotspots were also performed. Thus, exploring the knowledge dimensions of the field, quantifying the research patterns in the field, and uncovering emerging trends in the field will help to obtain more accurate and complete information. The large amount of current research results related to depression will be presented more intuitively and accurately with the medium of information technology, and the scientific evaluation of research themes and trend prediction will be provided from a new perspective.

Data Sources

The data in this paper comes from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection. The time years were selected as 2004–2019. First, the literature was retrieved after entering “depression” using the title search method. A total of 73,829 articles, excluding “depression” as “suppression,” “decline,” “sunken,” “pothole,” “slump,” “low pressure,” “frustration.” The total number of articles with other meanings such as “depression” was 5,606, and the total number of valid articles related to depression was 68,223. Next, the title search method was used to search for studies related to “major depressive disorder” not “depression,” and a total of 8,070 articles were retrieved. For the two search strategies, a total of 76,293 records were collected. The relevant literature retrieved under the two methods were combined and exported in “plain text” file format. The exported records included: “full records and references cited.” CiteSpace processed the data to obtain 41,408 valid records, covering all depression-related research articles for the period 2004–2019, and used this as the basis for analysis.

Processing Tools

CiteSpace ( 18 ), developed by Chao-Mei Chen, a professor in the School of Information Science and Technology at Drexel University, is a Java-based program with powerful data visualization capabilities and is one of the most widely used knowledge mapping tools. The software version used in this study is CiteSpace 5.8.R2 (64-bit).

Methods of Analysis

This study uses bibliometrics and data visualization as analytical methods. First, the application of bibliometrics to the field of depression helped to identify established and emerging research clusters, demonstrating the value of research in this area. Second, data visualization provides multiple perspectives on the data, presenting correlations in a clearer “knowledge graph” that can reveal underestimated and overlooked trends, patterns, and differences ( 19 ). CiteSpace is mainly based on the “co-occurrence clustering idea,” which extracts the information units (keywords, authors, institutions, countries, journals, etc.) in the data by classification, and then further reconstructs the data in the information units to form networks based on different types and strengths of connections (e.g., keyword co-occurrence, author collaboration, etc.). The resulting networks include nodes and links, where the nodes represent the information units of the literature and the links represent the existence of connections (co-occurrence) between the nodes. Finally, the network is measured, statistically analyzed, and presented in a visual way. The analysis needs to focus on: the overall structure of the network, key nodes and paths. The key evaluation indicators in this study are: betweenness centrality, year, keyword frequency, and burst strength. Betweenness centrality (BC) is the number of times a node acts as the shortest bridge between two other nodes. The higher the number of times a node acts as an “intermediary,” the greater its betweenness centrality. Betweenness centrality is a measure of the importance of articles found and measured by nodes in the network by labeling the category (or authors, journals, institutions, etc.) with purple circles. There may be many shortest paths between two nodes in the network, and by counting all the shortest paths of any two nodes in the network, if many of the shortest paths pass through a node, then the node is considered to have high betweenness centrality. In CiteSpace, nodes with betweenness centrality over 0.1 are called critical nodes. Year, which represents the publication time of the article. Frequency, which represents the number of occurrences. Burst strength, an indicator used to measure articles with sudden rise or sudden decline in citations. Nodes with high burst strength usually represent a shift in a certain research area and need to be focused on, and the burst article points are indicated in red. The nodes and their sizes and colors are first analyzed initially, and further analyzed by betweenness centrality indicators for evaluation. Each node represents an article, and the larger the node, the greater the frequency of the keyword word and the greater the relevance to the topic. Similarly, the color of the node represents time: the warmer the color, the more recent the time; the colder the color, the older the era; the node with a purple outer ring is a node with high betweenness centrality; the color of each annual ring can determine the time distribution: the color of the annual ring represents the corresponding time, and the thickness of one annual ring is proportional to the number of articles within the corresponding time division; the dominant color can reflect the relative concentration of the emergence time; the node The appearance of red annual rings in the annual rings means hot spots, and the frequency of citations has been or is still increasing rapidly.

Large-Scale Assessment

Country analysis.

During the period 2004–2019, a total of 157 countries/territories have conducted research on depression, which is about 67.38% of 233 countries/territories worldwide. This shows that depression is receiving attention from many countries/regions around the world. Figure 1 shows the geographical distribution of published articles for 157 countries. The top 15 countries are ranked according to the number of articles published. Table 1 lists the top 15 countries with the highest number of publications in the field of depression worldwide from 2004 to 2019. These 15 countries include 4 Asian countries (Peoples R China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey), 2 North American countries (USA, Canada), 1 South American country (Brazil), 7 European countries (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden), and 1 Oceania country (Australia).

Geographical distributions of publications, 2004–2019.

The top 15 productive countries.

TP, total publications; TP R (%), the ratio of the amount of the publications in the country to the publications in the word during 2004–2019; BC, betweenness centrality; TPA (million), total publications in all areas; TPA R (%), the ratio of the amount of publications in depression to publications in all areas .

Overall, the main distribution of these articles is in USA and some European countries, such as UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, and Sweden. This means that these countries are more interested and focused on research on depression compared to others. The total number of publications across all research areas in the Web of Science core collection is similar to the distribution of depression research areas, with the trend toward USA, UK, and Peoples R China as leading countries being unmistakable, and USA has been a leader in the field of depression, with far more articles published than any other country. It can also be seen that USA is the country with the highest betweenness centrality in the network of national collaborations analyzed in this paper. USA research in the field of depression is closely linked to global research, and is an important part of the global collaborative network for depression research. As of 2019, the total number of articles published in depression performance research in USA represents 27.13% of the total number of articles published in depression worldwide, which is ~4 times more than the second-place country, UK, which is far ahead of other countries. Peoples R China, as the third most published country, has a dominant number of articles, but its betweenness centrality is 0.01, reflecting the fact that Peoples R China has less collaborative research with other countries, so Peoples R China should strengthen its foreign collaborative research and actively establish global scientific research partnerships to seek development and generate breakthroughs in cooperation. The average percentage of scientific research on depression in each country is about 0.19%, also highlighting the urgent need to address depression as one of the global human health problems. The four Asian countries included in the top 15 countries are Peoples R China, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey, with Peoples R China ranking third with 6.72% of the total number of all articles counted. The distribution may be explained by the fact that Peoples R China is the largest developing country with a rapid development rate as the largest. Along with the steady rise in the country's economic power, people are creating economic benefits and their health is becoming a consumable commodity. The lifetime prevalence and duration of depression varies by country and region ( 2 ), but the high prevalence and persistence of depression worldwide confirms the increasing severity of the disease worldwide. The WHO estimates that more than 300 million people, or 4.4% of the world's population, suffer from depression ( 20 ), with the number of people suffering from depression increasing at a patient rate of 18.4% between 2005 and 2015. Depression, one of the most prevalent mental illnesses of our time, has caused both physical and psychological harm to many people, and it has become the leading cause of disability worldwide today, and in this context, there is increased interest and focus on research into depression. It is expected that a more comprehensive understanding of depression and finding ways to prevent and cope with the occurrence of this disease can help people get rid of the pain and shadow brought by depression, obtain a healthy and comfortable physical and mental environment and physical health, and make Chinese contributions to the cause of human health. Undoubtedly, the occurrence of depressive illnesses in the context of irreversible human social development has stimulated a vigorous scientific research environment on depression in Peoples R China and other developing countries and contributed to the improvement of research capacity in these countries. Moreover, from a different perspective, the geographical distribution of articles in this field also represents the fundamental position of the country in the overall scientific and academic research field.

Growth Trend Analysis

Figure 2 depicts the distribution of 38,433 articles from the top 10 countries in terms of the number of publications and the trend of growth during 2004–2019.

The distribution of publications in top 10 productive countries, 2004–2019. Source: author's calculation. National development classification criteria refer to “Human Development Report 2020” ( 21 ).

First, the number of articles published per year for the top 10 countries in terms of productivity was counted and then the white bar chart in Figure 2 was plotted, with the year as the horizontal coordinate and total publications as the vertical coordinate, showing the distribution of the productivity of articles in the field of depression per year. The total number of publications for the period 2004–2019 is 38,433. Based on the white bars and line graphs in Figure 2 , we can divide this time period into three growth periods. The number of publications in each growth period is calculated based on the number of publications per year. As can be seen from the figure, the period 2004–2019 can be divided into three main growth periods, namely 2004–2009, 2010–2012, and 2013–2019, the first growth period being from 2004 to 2009, the number of publications totaled 6,749, accounting for 23.97% of all publications; from 2010 to 2012, the number of publications totaled 8,236, accounting for 17.56% of all publications; and from 2013 to 2019, the number of publications totaled 22,473, accounting for 58.47% of all publications. Of these, 2006 was the first year of sharp growth with an annual growth rate of 19.97%, 2009 was the second year of sharp growth with an annual growth rate of 17.64%, and 2008 was the third year of sharp growth with an annual growth rate of 16.09%. In the last 5 years, 2019 has also shown a sharp growth trend with a growth rate of 14.34%. Notably, in 2010 and 2013, there was negative growth with the growth rate of −3.39 and −1.45%. In the last 10 years, depression research has become one of the most valuable areas of human research. It can also be noted that the number of publications in the field of depression in these 10 countries has been increasing year after year.

Second, the analysis is conducted from the perspective of national development, divided into developed and developing countries, as shown in the orange bar chart in Figure 2 , where the horizontal coordinate is year and the vertical coordinate is total publications, comparing the article productivity variability between developed and developing countries. The top 10 most productive countries in the field of depression globally include nine developed countries and one developing country, respectively. During the period 2004–2019, 34,631 papers were published in developed countries and 3,802 papers were published in developing countries, with developed countries accounting for 90.11% of the 38,433 articles and developing countries accounting for 9.89%, and the total number of publications in developed countries was about 9 times higher than that in developing countries. During the period 2004–2019, the number of publications in developed countries showed negative growth in 2 years (2010 and 2013) with growth rates of −3.39 and −1.45%, respectively. The rest of the years showed positive growth with growth rates of 1.52% (2005), 19.97 (2006), 8.11 (2007), 12.70 (2008), 17.64 (2009), 13.22 (2011), 10.17 (2012), 16.09 (2014), 10.46 (2015), 4.10 (2016), 1.59 (2017), 3.91 (2018), and 14.34 (2019), showing three periods of positive growth: 2004–2009, 2011–2012, and 2014–2019, with the highest growth rate of 19.97% in 2006. Recent years have also shown a higher growth trend, with a growth rate of 14.34% in 2019. It is worth noting that developing countries have been showing positive growth in the number of articles in the period 2004–2019, with annual growth rates of 81.25 (2005), 17.24 (2006), 35.29 (2007), 19.57 (2008), 65.45 (2009), 13.19 (2010), 29.13 (2011), 54.89 (2012), 12.14 (2013), 36.36 (2014), 14.92 (2015), 16.02 (2016), 10.24 (2017), 21.17 (2018), and 31.37 (2019), with the highest growth rate of 81.25% in 2005. In the field of depression research, developed countries are still the main force and occupy an important position.

Further, 10 countries with the highest productivity in the field of depression are compared, total publications in the vertical coordinate, and the colored scatter plot contains 10 colored dots, representing 10 different countries. On the one hand, the variability of the contributions of different countries in the same time frame can be compared horizontally. On the other hand, it is possible to compare vertically the variability of the growth of different countries over time. Among them, USA, with about 40.29% of the world's publications in the field of depression, has always been a leader in the field of depression with its rich research results. Peoples R China, as the only developing country, ranks 3rd in the top 10 countries with high production of research papers in the field of depression, and Peoples R China's research in the field of depression has shown a rapid growth trend, and by 2016, it has jumped to become the 2nd largest country in the world, with the number of published papers increasing year by year, which has a broad prospect and great potential for development.

Distribution of Periodicals

Table 2 lists the top 15 journals in order of number of journal co-citations. In the field of depression, the top 15 cited journals accounted for 19.06% of the total number of co-citations, nearly one in five of the total number of journal co-citations. In particular, the top 3 journals were ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT (ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY), J AFFECT DISORDERS (JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS), and AM J PSYCHIAT (AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY), with co-citation counts of 20,499, 20,302, and 20,143, with co-citation rates of 2.09, 2.07, and 2.06%, respectively. The main research area of ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT is Psychiatry; the main research area of the journal J AFFECT DISORDERS is Neurosciences and Neurology, Psychiatry; AM J PSYCHIAT is the main research area of Psychiatry, and the three journals have “psychiatry” in common, making them the most frequently co-cited journals in the field of depression.

The top 15 co-cited journals.

TP, total publications; TP R (%), the ratio of the amount of the journal's publications to the total publications; BC, betweenness centrality .

Figure 3 shows the network relationship graph of the cited journals from 2004 to 2019. The figure takes g-index as the selection criteria, the scale factor k = 25 to include more nodes. Each node of the graph represents each journal, the node size represents the number of citation frequencies, the label size represents the size of the betweenness centrality of the journal in the network, and the links between journals represent the co-citation relationships. The journal co-citation map reflects the structure of the journals, indicating that there are links between journals and that the journals include similar research topics. These journals included research topics related to neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and psychology. The journal with betweenness centrality size in the top 1 was ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT, with betweenness centrality size of 0.07, and impact shadows of 14.48. ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT, has research themes of Psychiatry. In all, these journals in Figure 3 occupy an important position in the journal's co-citation network and have strong links with other journals.

Prominent journals involved in depression. The betweenness centrality of a node in the network measures the importance of the position of the node in the network. Two types of nodes may have high betweenness centrality scores: (1) Nodes that are highly connected to other nodes, (2) Nodes are positioned between different groups of nodes. The lines represent the link between two different nodes.

Distribution of Categories

Table 3 lists the 15 most popular categories in the field of depression research during the period 2004–2019. In general, the main disciplines involved are neuroscience, psychology, pharmacy, medicine, and health care, which are closely related to human life and health issues. Of these, psychiatry accounted for 20.78%, or about one-five, making it the most researched category. The study of depression focuses on neuroscience, reflecting the essential characteristics of depression as a category of mental illness and better reflecting the fact that depression is an important link in the human public health care. In addition, Table 3 shows that the category with the highest betweenness centrality is Neuroscience, followed by Public, Environment & Occupational Health, and then Pharmacology & Pharmacy, with betweenness centrality of 0.16, 0.13, and 0.11, respectively. It is found that the research categories of depression are also centered on disciplines such as neuroscience, public health and pharmacology, indicating that research on depression requires a high degree of integration of multidisciplinary knowledge and integration of information from various disciplines in order to have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the depression.

The top 15 productive categories, 2004–2019.

TP, total publications; TP R (%), the ratio of the amount of the category's publications to the total publications; BC, betweenness centrality .

Figure 4 shows the nine categories with the betweenness centrality in the category research network, with Neuroscience being the node with the highest betweenness centrality in this network, meaning that Neuroscience is most strongly linked to all research categories in the field of depression research. Depression is a debilitating psychiatric disorder with mood disorders. It is worth noting that the development of depression not only has psychological effects on humans, but also triggers many somatic symptoms that have a bad impact on their daily work and life, giving rise to the second major mediating central point of research with public health as its theme. The somatization symptoms of depression often manifest as abnormalities in the cardiovascular system, and many studies have looked at the pathology of the cardiovascular system in the hope of finding factors that influence the onset of depression, mechanisms that trigger it or new ways to treat it. Thus, depression involves not only the nervous system, but also interacts with the human cardiovascular system, for example, and the complexity of depression dictates that the study of depression is an in-depth study based on complex systems.

Prominent categories involved in depression, 2004–2019. The betweenness centrality of a node in the network measures the importance of the position of the node in the network. Two types of nodes may have high betweenness centrality scores: (1) Nodes that are highly connected to other nodes, (2) Nodes are positioned between different groups of nodes. The lines represent the link between two different nodes.

Author Statistics

The results of the analysis showed that there were many researchers working in the field of depression over the past 16 years, and 63 of the authors published at least 30 articles related to depression. Table 4 lists the 15 authors with the highest number of articles published. It includes the rank of the number of articles published, author, country, number of articles published in depression-related studies, total number of articles included in Web of Science, total number of citations, average number of citations, and H-index. According to the statistics, seven of the top 15 authors are from USA, three from the Netherlands, one from Canada, one from Australia, one from New Zealand, one from Italy, and one from Germany. From this, it can be seen that these productive authors are from developed countries, thus it can be inferred that developed countries have a better research environment, more advanced research technology and more abundant research funding. The evaluation indicators in the author co-occurrence network are frequency, betweenness centrality and time of first appearance. The higher the frequency, i.e., the higher the number of collaborative publications, the more collaboration, the higher the information dissemination rate, the three authors with the highest frequency in this author co-occurrence network are MAURIZIO FAVA, BRENDA W. J. H. PENNINX, MADHUKAR H. TRIVEDI; the higher the betweenness centrality, i.e., the closer the relationship with other authors, the more collaboration, the higher the information dissemination rate, the three authors with the highest betweenness centrality are the three authors with the highest betweenness centrality are MICHAEL E. THASE, A. JOHN RUSH; the time of first appearance, i.e., the longer the influence generated by the author's research, the higher the information dissemination rate; in addition, the impact factor and citations can also reflect the information dissemination efficiency of the authors.

The top 15 authors in network of co-authorship, 2004–2019.

BC, betweenness centrality; TP, total publications; AP, publications in all areas; DP (%), the ratio of the publications about depression in 2004–2019 to the publications about all areas in all times; TC, total citation; CPP (%), citations per publication .

The timezone view ( Figure 5 ) in the author co-occurrence network clearly shows the updates and interactions of author collaborations, for example. All nodes are positioned in a two-dimensional coordinate with the horizontal axis of time, and according to the time of first posting, the nodes are set in different time zones, and their positions are sequentially upward with the time axis, showing a left-to-right, bottom-up knowledge evolution diagram. The time period 2004–2019 is divided into 16 time zones, one for each year, and each circle in the figure represents an author, and the time zone in which the circle appears is the year when the author first published an article in the data set of this study. The closer the color, the warmer the color, the closer the time, the colder the color, the older the era, the thickness of an annual circle, and the number of articles within the corresponding time division is proportional, the dominant color can reflect the relative concentration of the emergence time, the nodes appear in the annual circle of the red annual circle, that is, on behalf of the hot spot, the frequency of being cited was or is still increasing sharply. Nodes with purple outer circles are nodes with high betweenness centrality. The time zone view demonstrates the growth of author collaboration in the field, and it can be found from the graph that the number of author collaborations increases over time, and the frequency of publications in the author collaboration network is high; observe that the thickness of the warm annual rings in the graph is much greater than the thickness of the cold annual rings, which represents the increase of collaboration in time; there are many authors in all time zones, which indicates that there are many research collaborations and achievements in the field, and the field is in a period of collaborative prosperity. The linkage relationship between the sub-time-periods can be seen by the linkage relationship between the time periods, and it can be found from the figure that there are many linkages in the field in all time periods, which indicates that the author collaboration in the field of depression research is strong.

Timezone view of the author's co-existing network in depression, 2004–2019. The circle represents the author, the time zone in which the circle appears is the year in which the author first published in this study dataset, the radius of the circle represents the frequency of appearance, the color represents the different posting times, the lines represent the connections between authors, and the time zone diagram shows the evolution of author collaboration.

Institutional Statistics

Table 5 lists the top 15 research institutions in network of co-authors' institutions. These include 10 American research institutions, two Netherlands research institutions, one UK research institution, one Canadian research institution and one Australian research institution, all of which, according to the statistics, are from developed countries. Of these influential research institutions, 66.7% are from USA. Figure 6 shows the collaborative network with these influential research institutions as nodes. Kings Coll London (0.2), Univ Michigan (0.17), Univ Toronto (0.15), Stanford Univ (0.14), Univ Penn (0.14), Univ Pittsburgh (0.14), Univ Melbourne (0.12), Virginia Commonwealth Univ (0.12), Columbia Univ (0.1), Duke Univ (0.1), Massachusetts Gen Hosp (0.1), Vrije Univ Amsterdam (0.1), with betweenness centrality >0.1. Kings Coll London has a central place in this collaborative network and is influential in the field of depression research. Table 6 lists the 15 institutions with the strong burst strength. The top 3 institutions are all from USA. Univ Copenhagen, Univ Illinois, Harvard Med Sch, Boston Univ, Univ Adelaide, Heidelberg Univ, Univ New South Wales, and Icahn Sch Med Mt Sinai have had strong burst strength in recent years. It suggests that these institutions may have made a greater contribution to the field of depression over the course of this year and more attention could be paid to their research.

The top 15 institutions in network of co-authors' institutions, 2004–2019.

TP, total publications; BC, betweenness centrality .

Prominent institutions involved in depression, 2004–2019. The betweenness centrality of a node in the network measures the importance of the position of the node in the network. Two types of nodes may have high betweenness centrality scores: (1) Nodes that are highly connected to other nodes, (2) Nodes are positioned between different groups of nodes. The lines represent the link between two different nodes.

The top 15 institutions with the strongest citation bursts, 2004–2019.

Burst denote the citation burst strength; blue thin lines denote the whole period of 2004962019, which provide a useful means to trace the development of research focus; the location and length of red thick lines denote the start and end time during the whole period of the bursts and how long the burst lasts .

Summing up the above analysis, it can be seen that the research institutions in USA are at the center of the depression research field, are at the top of the world in terms of quantity and quality of research, and are showing continuous growth in vitality. Research institutions in USA, as pioneers among all research institutions, lead and drive the development of depression research and play an important role in cutting-edge research in the field of depression.

Article Citations

Table 7 lists the 16 articles that have been cited more than 1,000 times within the statistical range of this paper from 2004 to 2019. As can be seen from the table, the most cited article was written by Dowlati et al. from Canada and published in BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY 2010, which was cited 2,556 times. In addition, 11 of these 16 highly cited articles were from the USA. Notably, two articles by Kroenke, K as first author appear in this list, ranked 7th and 11th, respectively. In addition, there are three articles from Canada, one article from Switzerland, and one article from the UK. And interestingly, all of these countries are developed countries. It can be reflected that developed countries have ample research experience and high quality of research in the field of depression research. On the other hand, it also reflects that depression is a key concern in developed countries. These highly cited articles provide useful information to many researchers and are of high academic and exploratory value.

The top 15 frequency cited articles, 2004–2019.

TP, total publications (citations) .

Research Hotspots Ang Frontiers

Keyword analysis.

The keyword analysis of depression yielded the 25 most frequent keywords in Table 8 and the keyword co-occurrence network in Figure 7 . Also, the data from this study were detected by burst, the 25 keywords with the strongest burst strength were obtained in Table 9 . These results bring out the popular and cutting-edge research directions in the field clearly.

Top 25 frequent keywords in the period of 2004–2019.

Count, number of times the article has been cited; BC, betweenness centrality .

Keyword co-occurrence network in depression, 2004–2019.

Top 25 keywords with strongest citation bursts in the period of 2004–2019.

Burst denote the citation burst strength; blue thin lines denote the whole period of 2004–2019, which provide a useful means to trace the development of research focus; the location and length of red thick lines denote the start and end time during the whole period of the bursts and how long the burst lasts .

The articles on depression during 2004–2019 were analyzed in 1-year time slices, and the top 25 keywords with the highest frequency of occurrence were selected from each slice to obtain the keyword network shown in Table 8 . The top 25 keywords with the highest frequencies were: symptom, disorder, major depression, prevalence, meta-analysis, anxiety, risk, scale, association, quality of life, health, risk factor, stress, validity, validation, mental health, women, double blind, brain, population, disease, impact, primary care, mood, and efficacy. High-frequency nodes respond to popular keywords and are an important basis for the field of depression research.

Figure 7 shows the co-occurrence network mapping of keywords regarding depression research. Each circle in the figure is a node representing a keyword, and the greater the betweenness centrality, the more critical the position of the node in the network. The top 10 keywords in terms of betweenness centrality are: symptom (0.6), major depression (0.28), prevalence (0.27), disorder (0.25), double blind (0.18), risk factor (0.12), stress (0.11), children (0.1), schizophrenia (0.1), and expression (0.1). Nodes with high betweenness centrality reflect that the keyword forms a co-occurrence relationship with multiple other keywords in the domain. A higher betweenness centrality indicates that it is more related to other keywords, and therefore, the node plays an important role in the study. Relatively speaking, these nodes represent the main research directions in the field of depression; they are also the key research directions in this period, and to a certain extent, represent the research hotspots in this period.

Burst detection was performed on the keywords, and the 25 keywords with the strongest strength were extracted, as shown in Table 9 . These keywords contain: fluoxetine, community, follow up, illness, psychiatric disorder, dementia, trial, placebo, disability, serotonin reuptake inhibitor, myocardial infarction, hospital anxiety, antidepressant treatment, late life depression, United States, epidemiology, major depression, model, severity, adolescent, people, prefrontal cortex, management, meta-analysis, and expression. The keywords that burst earlier include fluoxetine (2004), community (2004), follow up (2004), illness (2004), and psychiatric disorder (2004), are keywords that imply that researchers focused on themes early in the field of depression. As researchers continue to explore, the study of depression is changing day by day, and the keywords that have burst in recent years are people (2015), prefrontal cortex (2016), management (2016), meta-analysis (2017), and expression (2017). Reflecting the fact that depression research in recent years has mainly focused on human subjects, the focus has been on the characterization of populations with depression onset. The relationship between depression and the brain has aroused the curiosity of researchers, what exactly are the causes that trigger depression and what are the effects of depression for the manifestation of depression have caused a wide range of discussions in the research community, and the topics related to it have become the most popular studies and have been the focus of research in recent years. All of these research areas showed considerable growth, indicating that research into this area is gaining traction, suggesting that it is becoming a future research priority. The keywords with the strongest burst strength are fluoxetine (111.2), community (110.08), antidepressant treatment (94.28), severity (88.35), meta-analysis (86.42), people (85.33), and follow up (84.46). The rapid growth of research based on these keywords indicates that these topics are the most promising and interesting. The keywords that has been around the longest burst are follow up (2004–2013), model (2013–2019), hospital anxiety (2008–2013), severity (2014–2019), and psychiatric disorder (2004–2008), researchers have invested a lot of research time in these research directions, making many research results, and responding to the exploratory value and significance of research on these topics. At the same time, the longer duration of burst also proves that these research directions have research potential and important value.

Research Hotspots

Hotspots must mainly have the characteristics of high frequency, high betweenness centrality, strong burst, and time of emergence can be used as secondary evaluation indicators. The higher the number of occurrences, the higher the degree of popularity and attention. The higher betweenness centrality means the greater the influence and the higher the importance. Nodes with strong burst usually represent key shift nodes and need to be focused on. The time can be dynamically adjusted according to the target time horizon of the analysis. Thus, based on the results of statistical analysis, it is clear that the research hotspots in the field of depression can be divided into four main areas: etiology (external factors, internal factors), impact (quality of life, disease symptoms, co-morbid symptoms), treatment (interventions, drug development, care modalities), and assessment (population, size, symptoms, duration of disease, morbidity, mortality, effectiveness).

Risk factors for depression include a family history of depression, early life abuse and neglect, and female sexuality and recent life stressors. Physical illnesses also increase the risk of depression, particularly increasing the prevalence associated with metabolic (e.g., cardiovascular disease) and autoimmune disorders.

Research on the etiology of depression can be divided into internal and external factors. In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the impact of external factors on depression. Depression is influenced by environmental factors related to social issues, such as childhood experiences, social interactions, and lifestyles. Adverse childhood experiences are risk factors for depression and anxiety in adolescence ( 37 ) and are a common pathway to depression in adults ( 38 ). Poor interpersonal relationships with classmates, family, teachers, and friends increase the prevalence of depression in adolescents ( 39 ). Related studies assessed three important, specific indicators of the self-esteem domain: social confidence, academic ability, and appearance ( 40 ). The results suggest that these three dimensions of self-esteem are key risk factors for increased depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. The vulnerability model ( 41 ) suggests that low self-esteem is a causal risk factor for depression, and low self-esteem is thought to be one of the main causes of the onset and progression of depression, with individuals who exhibit low self-esteem being more likely to develop social anxiety and social withdrawal, and thus having a sense of isolation ( 42 ), which in turn leads to subsequent depression. Loneliness predicts depression in adolescents. Individuals with high levels of loneliness experience more stress and tension from psychological and physical sources in their daily lives, which, combined with insufficient care from society, can lead to depression ( 43 ). A mechanism of association exists between life events and mood disorders, with negative life events being directly associated with depressive symptoms ( 44 ). In a cross-sectional study conducted in Shanghai, the prevalence of depression was higher among people who worked longer hours, and daily lifestyle greatly influenced the prevalence of depression ( 45 ). A number of studies in recent years have presented a number of interesting ideas, and they suggest that depression is related to different environmental factors, such as temperature, sunlight hours, and air pollution. Environmental factors have been associated with suicidal behavior. Traffic noise is a variable that triggers depression and is associated with personality disorders such as depression ( 46 ). The harmful effects of air pollution on mental health, inhalation of air pollutants can trigger neuroinflammation and oxidative stress and induce dopaminergic neurotoxicity. A study showed that depression was associated with an increase in ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) ( 47 ).

Increased inflammation is a feature of many diseases and even systemic disorders, such as some autoimmune diseases [e.g., type 1 diabetes ( 48 ) or rheumatoid arthritis ( 49 )] and infectious diseases [e.g., hepatitis and sepsis ( 50 )], are associated with an inflammatory response and have been found to increase the risk of depression. A growing body of evidence supports a bidirectional association between depression and inflammatory processes, with stressors and pathogens leading to excessive or prolonged inflammatory responses when combined with predisposing factors (e.g., childhood adversity and modifying factors such as obesity). The resulting illnesses (e.g., pain, sleep disorders), depressive symptoms, and negative health (e.g., poor diet, sedentary lifestyle) may act as mediating pathways leading to inflammation and depression. In terms of mechanistic pathways, cytokines induce depression by affecting different mood-related processes. Elevated inflammatory signals can dysregulate the metabolism of neurotransmitters, damaging neurons, and thus altering neural activity in the brain. In addition cytokines can modulate depression by regulating hormone levels. Inflammation can have different effects on different populations depending on individual physiology, and even lower levels of inflammation may have a depressive effect on vulnerable individuals. This may be due to lower parasympathetic activity, poorer sensitivity to glucocorticoid inhibitory feedback, a greater response to social threat in the anterior oral cortex or amygdala and a smaller hippocampus. Indeed, these are all factors associated with major depression that can affect the sensitivity to the inhibitory consequences of inflammatory stimuli.

Depression triggers many somatization symptoms, which can manifest as insomnia, menopausal syndrome, cardiovascular problems, pain, and other somatic symptoms. There is a link between sleep deprivation and depression, with insomnia being a trigger and maintenance of depression, and more severe insomnia and chronic symptoms predicting more severe depression. Major depression is considered to be an independent risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease and a predictor of cardiovascular events ( 51 ). Patients with depression are extremely sensitive to pain and have increased pain perception ( 52 ) and is associated with an increased risk of suicide ( 53 , 54 ), and generally the symptoms of these pains are not relieved by medication.

Studies have shown that depression triggers an inflammatory response, promoting an increase in cytokines in response to stressors vs. pathogens. For example, mild depressive symptoms have been associated with an amplified and prolonged inflammatory response ( 55 , 56 ) following influenza vaccination in older adults and pregnant women. Among women who have recently given birth, those with a lifetime history of major depression have greater increases in both serum IL-6 and soluble IL-6 receptors after delivery than women without a history of depression ( 57 ). Pro-inflammatory agents, such as interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), for specific somatization disorders [e.g., hepatitis C or malignant melanoma ( 58 , 59 )], although effective for somatic disorders, pro-inflammatory therapy often leads to psychiatric side effects. Up to 80% of patients treated with IFN-α have been reported to suffer from mild to moderate depressive symptoms.

Clinical trials have shown better antidepressant treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs compared to placebo, either as monotherapy ( 60 , 61 ) or as an add-on treatment ( 62 – 65 ) to antidepressants ( 66 , 67 ). However, findings like whether NSAIDs can be safely used in combination with antidepressants are controversial. Patients with depression often suffer from somatic co-morbidities, which must be included in the benefit/risk assessment. It is important to consider the type of medication, duration of treatment, and dose, and always balance the potential treatment effect with the risk of adverse events in individual patients. Depression, childhood adversity, stressors, and diet all affect the gut microbiota and promote gut permeability, another pathway that enhances the inflammatory response, and effective depression treatment may have profound effects on mood, inflammation, and health. Early in life gut flora colonization is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation and affects the enteric nervous system, which is associated with the risk of major depression, gut flora dysbiosis leads to the onset of TLR4-mediated inflammatory responses, and pro-inflammatory factors are closely associated with depression. Clinical studies have shown that in the gut flora of depressed patients, pro-inflammatory bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae and Desulfovibrio are enriched, while short-chain fatty acid producing bacteria are reduced, and some of these bacterial taxa may transmit peripheral inflammation into the brain via the brain-gut axis ( 68 ). In addition, gut flora can affect the immune system by modulating neurotransmitters (5-hydroxytryptamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, norepinephrine, etc.), which in turn can influence the development of depression ( 69 ). Therefore, antidepressant drugs targeting gut flora are a future research direction, and diet can have a significant impact on mood by regulating gut flora.

As the molecular basis of clinical depression remains unclear, and treatments and therapeutic effects are limited and associated with side effects, researchers have worked to discover new treatment modalities for depression. High-amplitude low-frequency musical impulse stimulation as an additional treatment modality seems to produce beneficial effects ( 70 ). Studies have found electroconvulsive therapy to be one of the most effective antidepressant treatment therapies ( 71 ). Physical exercise can promote molecular changes that lead to a shift from a chronic pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state in the peripheral and central nervous system ( 72 ). Aromatherapy is widely used in the treatment of central nervous system disorders ( 73 ). By activating the parasympathetic nervous system, qigong can be effective in reducing depression ( 74 ). The exploration of these new treatment modalities provides more reference options for the treatment of depression.

Large-scale assessments of depression have found that the probability of developing depression varies across populations. Depression affects some specific populations more significantly, for example: adolescents, mothers, and older adults. Depression is one of the disorders that predispose to adolescence, and depression is associated with an increased risk of suicide among college students ( 75 ). Many women develop depression after childbirth. Depression that develops after childbirth is one of the most common complications for women in the postpartum period ( 76 ). The health of children born to mothers who suffer from postpartum depression can also be adversely affected ( 77 ). Depression can cause many symptoms within the central nervous system, especially in the elderly population ( 78 ).

Furthermore, one of the most consistent findings of the association between inflammation and depression is the elevated levels of peripheral pro-inflammatory markers in depressed individuals, and peripheral pro-inflammatory marker levels can also be used as a basis for the assessment of depressed patients. Studies have shown that the following pro-inflammatory markers have been found to be at increased levels in depressed individuals: CRP ( 79 , 80 ), IL-6 ( 22 , 79 , 81 , 82 ), TNF–α, and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) ( 79 , 82 ), however, this association is not unidirectional and the subsequent development of depression also increases pro-inflammatory markers ( 82 , 83 ). These biomarkers are of great interest, and depressed patients with increased inflammatory markers may represent a relatively drug-resistant population.

Frontier Analysis

The exploration and analysis of frontier areas of depression were based on the results of the analysis of the previous section on keywords. According to the evaluation index and analysis idea of this study, the frontier research topics need to have the following four characteristics: low to medium frequency, strong burst, high betweenness centrality, and the research direction in recent years. Therefore, combining the results of keyword analysis and these characteristics, it can be found that the frontier research on depression also becomes clear.

Research on Depression Characterized by Psychosexual Disorders

Exploration of biological mechanisms based on depression-associated neurological disorders and analysis of depression from a neurological perspective have always been the focus of research. Activation of neuroinflammatory pathways may contribute to the development of depression ( 84 ). A research model based on the microbial-gut-brain axis facilitates the neurobiology of depression ( 85 ). Some probiotics positively affect the central nervous system due to modulation of neuroinflammation and thus may be able to modulate depression ( 86 ). The combination of environmental issues and the neurobiological study of depression opens new research directions ( 46 ).

Research on Relevant Models of Depression

How to develop a model that meets the purpose of the study determines the outcome of the study and has become the direction that researchers have been exploring in recent years. Martínez et al. ( 87 ) developed a predictive model to assess factors that modify the treatment pathway for postpartum depression. Nie et al. ( 88 ) extended the work on predictive modeling of treatment-resistant depression to establish a predictive model for treatment-resistant depression. Rational modeling methods and behavioral testing facilitate a more comprehensive exploration of depression, with richer studies and more scientifically valid findings.

Research and Characterization of the Depressed Patient Population

Current research on special groups and depression has received much attention. In a study of a group of children, 4% were found to suffer from depression ( 89 ). The diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders is an important component of pediatric care. Second, some studies of populations with distinct characteristics have been based primarily on female populations. Maternal perinatal depression is also a common mental disorder with a prevalence of over 10% ( 90 ). In addition, geriatric depression is a chronic and specific disorder ( 91 ). Studies based on these populations highlight the characteristics of the disorder more directly than large-scale population explorations and are useful for conducting extended explorations from specific to generalized.

Somatic Comorbidities Associated With Depression

Depression often accompanies the onset and development of many other disorders, making the study of physical comorbidities associated with depression a new landing place for depression research. Depression is a complication of many neurological or psychopathological disorders. Depression is a common co-morbidity of glioblastoma multiforme ( 92 ). Depression is an important disorder associated with stroke ( 93 ). Chronic liver disease is associated with depression ( 94 ). The link between depressive and anxiety states and cancer has been well-documented ( 95 ). In conclusion, depression is associated with an increased risk of lung, oral, prostate, and skin cancers, an increased risk of cancer-specific death from lung, bladder, breast, colorectal, hematopoietic system, kidney, and prostate cancers, and an increased risk of all-cause mortality in lung cancer patients. The early detection and effective intervention of depression and its complications has public health and clinical implications.

Research on Mechanisms of Depression

Research based on the mechanisms of depression includes the study of disease pathogenesis, the study of drug action mechanisms, and the study of disease treatment mechanisms. Research on the pathogenesis of depression has focused more on the study of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Social pressure can change the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis ( 96 ). Studies on the mechanism of action of drugs are mostly based on their effects on the central nervous system. The antidepressant effects of Tanshinone IIA are mediated by the ERK-CREB-BDNF pathway in the hippocampus of mice ( 97 ). Research on the mechanisms of depression treatment has also centered on the central nervous system. It has been shown that the vagus nerve can transmit signals to the brain that can lead to a reduction in depressive behavior ( 98 ).

In this study, based on the 2004–2019 time period, this wealth of data is effectively integrated through data analysis and processing to reproduce the research process in a particular field and to co-present global trends in homogenous fields while organizing past research.

Journals that have made outstanding contributions in this field include ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT, J AFFECT DISORDERS and AM J PSYCHIAT. PSYCHIATRY, NEUROSCIENCES & NEUROLOGY and CLINICAL NEUROLOGY are the three most popular categories. The three researchers with the highest number of articles were MAURIZIO FAVA (USA), BRENDA W. J. H. PENNINX (NETHERLANDS) and MADHUKAR H TRIVEDI (USA). Univ Pittsburgh (USA), Kings Coll London (UK) and Harvard Univ (USA) are three of the most productive and influential research institutions. A Meta-Analysis of Cytokines in Major Depression, Evaluation of outcomes with citalopram for depression using measurement-based care in STAR*D: Implications for clinical practice and Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression are key articles. Through keyword analysis, a distribution network centered on depression was formed. Although there are good trends in the research on depression, there are still many directions to be explored in depth. Some recommendations regarding depression are as follows.

(1) The prevention of depression can be considered by focusing on treating external factors and guiding the individual.

Faced with the rising incidence of depression worldwide and the difficulty of treating depression, researchers can think more about how to prevent the occurrence of depression. Depressed moods are often the result of stress, not only social pressures on the individual, but also environmental pressures in the developmental process, which in turn have an unhealthy relationship with the body and increase the likelihood of depression. The correlation between external factors and depression is less well-studied, but the control of external factors may be more effective in the short term than in the long term, and may be guided by self-adjustment to avoid major depressive disorder.

(2) The measurement and evaluation of the degree of depression should be developed in the direction of precision.

In the course of research, it has been found that the Depression Rating Scale is mostly used for the detection and evaluation of depression. This kind of assessment is more objective, but it still lacks accuracy, and the research on measurement techniques and methods is less, which is still at a low stage. Patients with depression usually have a variety of causes, conditions, and duration of illness that determine the degree of depression. Therefore, whether these scales can truly accurately measure depression in depressed patients needs further consideration. Accurate measurement is an important basis for evidence-based treatment of depression, and thus how to achieve accurate measurement of depression is a research direction that researchers can move toward.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for further research to address these issues.

A systematic analysis of research in the field of depression in this study concludes that the distribution of countries, journals, categories, authors, institutions, and citations may help researchers and research institutions to establish closer collaboration, develop appropriate publication plans, grasp research hotspots, identify valuable research ideas, understand current emerging research, and determine research directions. In addition, there are still some limitations that can be overcome in future work. First, due to the lack of author and address information in older published articles, it may not be possible to accurately calculate their collaboration; second, although the data scope of this paper is limited to the Web of Science, it can adequately meet our objectives.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

HW conceived and designed the analysis, collected the data, performed the analysis, and wrote the paper. XT, XW, and YW conceived and designed the analysis. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 81973495.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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