How to Critique Claims of a “Blood Test for Depression”
“I hope it is going to result in licensing, investing, or any other way that moves it forward…If it only exists as a paper in my drawer, what good does it do?” – Eva Redei, PhD, first author.
January 2024 introduction to how to critique claims of a blood test for depression
Hope springs eternal for a simple blood test that can distinguish between patients with major depression in need of evidence-based treatment versus patients who are simply demoralized or facing problems in living and who might require only informal social support and the passage of time.
Most new or recurrent cases of major depression first show up in primary medical care, not specialty mental health settings. Researchers with connections to pharmaceutical companies keep announcing that non-psychiatrist primary care clinicians—MDs, physician assistants, and nurses—no longer have to spend time talking to patients. They can administer a simple blood test. Somehow, after all the hoopla of such press campaigns, no such blood test becomes available.
This article from PLOS Blog Mind the Brain instructs readers how they can examine the press releases and the articles with extraordinary claims about blood test…