Course Title: Thinking About Cognition in Major Depressive Disorder and Other Brain-Based Illnesses
Hello i’m roger mcintyre professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the university of toronto i’m also the head of the mood disorder psychopharmacology unit at the universal network and an executive director of the brain and cognition discovery foundation in toronto ontario canada it’s my pleasure to welcome you to this course entitled rethinking cognition in depression
The rationale for this program was provided by observations during the past two decades that outcomes in major depressive disorder in adult populations have in fact been sub-optimal in other words we are not sufficiently achieving the therapeutic objectives that we aim for amongst individuals and populations affected by this common in often severe disorder simply
Put too often people receive treatment for depression but are not able to have full functional recovery and therein is in fact the overarching objective we now know that depression is the leading cause of disability around the world regardless of the country socioeconomic status and we know that the principal determinant of whether a person does well with depression
That is they able to return to their everyday life and overall integration into society and their overall function depends on some domains of depression more than others the scientific literature indicates very clearly that the cognitive domain which is a critical domain as part of depression is not just a area that’s often affected by people with depression but
Determines whether or not people aren’t able to function whether or not their quality of life is sufficient so this represents a tectonic plate shift and how we think about the key therapeutic objectives and depression we do believe that symptomatic remission is critical we also believe it’s important to evaluate and assess overall cognitive abilities and towards
The overarching aim of full function recovery it is critical that we see improvements in not only the mood domain but also the cognitive domain i’m joined during this series with my colleagues from around the world professors bernard bone from adelaide australia john harrison who is in amsterdam holland dr. katherine harmar from oxford uk dr. larry culpepper from
Boston united states experts on the topic of cognition who have contributed to this space from the point of view of what causes cognitive dysfunction in adults who suffer from depression how in fact do these disturbances manifest in the clinical ecosystem and how do we understand understand the underlying biology of these problems what’s the best way to assess it
And importantly what’s the best way to treat it i welcome you to this program and i believe very much that as we shift towards a greater emphasis on cognitive functions and depression we in fact can provide patients true hope that we can infect with them in a collaborative fashion achieve the therapeutic objectives that are achievable that being full functional integration
Transcribed from video
Dr. Roger McIntyre: Introduction: Thinking About Cognition in MDD and Other Brain-Based Illnesses By Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation
