Multimodal Biomarkers of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Severe and Treatment-resistant Depression

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a widespread and safe stimulation method that has been used successfully for decades in psychiatric diseases such as severe or therapy-resistant depression. Unfortunately, ECT still has stigmas attached to it. The latter often leads to reservations among those affected and perturbs optimal and guideline-based therapy. Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of ECT, prediction of treatment response is still not possible. This is due to the limited knowledge about the biological mechanisms of action of ECT, especially on an individuum level. Thus, the DetECT study intends to recruit 134 inpatient subjects of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry with severe and/or treatment resistant depression receiving ECT to perform weekly psychometry and blood draws before and after ECT sessions one, seven, and twelve. The subsequent biopsychological analysis comprises omics, physiological, neurocognitive, and psychometric measurements. The multimodal data collected will be used to identify data-driven clusters associated with ECT mechanisms and outcome.