High heterogeneity and low reliability in the diagnosis of major depression will impair the development of new drugs
Samuel M. Lieblich,
David J. Castle,
Christos Pantelis,
Malcolm Hopwood,
Allan Hunter Young,
Ian P. Everall
Affiliations
Samuel M. Lieblich
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
David J. Castle
St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and The University of Melbourne and Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia
Christos Pantelis
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health and Florey Institute for Neuroscience & Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia, and Bedfordshire Centre For Mental Health Research in Association with the University of Cambridge, UK
Malcolm Hopwood
Professorial Psychiatry Unit, Albert Road Clinic, and University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Allan Hunter Young
Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK
Ian P. Everall
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Major depressive disorder is a common diagnosis associated with a high burden of disease that has proven to be highly heterogeneous and unreliable. Treatments currently available demonstrate limited efficacy and effectiveness. New drug development is urgently required but is likely to be hindered by diagnostic limitations.
