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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Vagus Nerve Stimulation As an Adjunctive Neurostimulation Tool in Treatment-resistant Depression

Vagus Nerve Stimulation As an Adjunctive Neurostimulation Tool in Treatment-resistant Depression

Published on: January 7, 2019

Augmentation and combination strategies in resistant depression.

J Craig Nelson¹

¹Department of Psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA.

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

|July 4, 2009

Summary

Many patients with depression do not achieve remission with initial antidepressant treatment. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of adding a second medication for treatment-resistant depression.

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Vagus Nerve Stimulation As an Adjunctive Neurostimulation Tool in Treatment-resistant Depression

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Quadruple-Checkerboard: A Modification of the Three-Dimensional Checkerboard for Studying Drug Combinations

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Published on: July 24, 2021

Area of Science:

Psychiatry
Pharmacology
Clinical Medicine

Background:

Depression treatment often requires multiple medications.
First-line antidepressant therapy has limited remission rates.
Augmentation or combination therapy is a common strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the evidence for second-line treatments in depression.
To highlight the need for rigorous clinical trials.

Main Methods:

Review of existing clinical trial data.
Analysis of augmentation and combination therapy strategies.

Main Results:

Limited high-quality evidence exists for many augmentation strategies.
A clear definition of treatment resistance is often lacking in trials.

Conclusions:

More well-designed, large-scale clinical trials are necessary.
Defining treatment resistance is crucial for future research.