
Choosing the right antidepressant for someone who is depressed can be hit or miss. But a new study shows that artificial intelligence (AI) technology may be able to help. Researchers input information from electrical signals in the brain into a computer program that learns as it goes. Based on brain activity, the AI technology helped predict whether or not an antidepressant will help treat a particular person’s depression. So far, the new technology has only been tested on one type of antidepressant — sertraline (Zoloft). But the researchers think it will be useful for other antidepressants. They also hope it can predict how well other types of depression treatments might work, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation. “Right now in psychiatry, when we see a patient with depression, we have very little idea of what the most effective treatment will be. Then we start treatment in a trial-and-error fashion, which can lead to a lot of frustration,” explained senior study author Dr. Amit Etkin, a psychiatry professor at Stanford University in California. He’s currently on leave from Stanford to work on developing this technology as CEO of a company called Alto Neuroscience. “It’s not that antidepressants don’t work well. Some work extremely well. An objective test could help bridge the gap in knowing which treatments are effective and for whom they will be effective,” Etkin said.… read on >