A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH A 50 YEARS OF PROGRESS IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION

This plenary talk will highlight the progress in treatment of people suffering from depession that has occurred since 1976, when I began medical school, and 2026. I will describe some of the early research that I participated in as a young investigator, working with mentors such as Drs. David Kupfer and Jonathan Himmelhoch. I next will highlight broadening research collaborations with more senior colleagues such as Drs. Ellen Frank, Charles F. Reynolds III and A. John Rush, which coincided with the transition into a second generation of psychopharmacology. I will next provide a far too brief overview of mid-to later-career collaborations with literally 100s of colleagues in multicenter studies variously funded by the National Institutes of Health, the pharmaceutical industry, the Patient Centered Research Outcome Institute and the Veterans Health Administration. I will close with what may well be the last act of my career in clinical psychopharmacology, briefly illustrating how the discovery of remarkable therapeutic effect of ketamine has opened the door to a new generation of discovery pertaining to the antidepressant effects of various drugs that were formerly stigmatized and criminalized as hallucinogens or psychedelics.

Learning Objective 1: The participant will learn about the progress in the psychopharmacology of treatment of depression.

Learning Objective 2: The participant will be able to discuss how unmet needs in the treatment of depression in 2000 coincided with the discovery of ketamine’s antidepressant effects and set the stage for a new generation of research on drugs with psychelic properties.

References

Thase, M.E. (2023), Recent developments pertaining to treatmentresistant depression: a 40-year perspective. World Psychiatry, 22: 413-414. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21134 Cubała WJ, Bajbouj M, Bauer M…Thase, M.E. (2026) GH001 vs Placebo in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online March 25, 2026. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2026.0096 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Clinical Updates on Neurotherapeutics: Disease State