Depression Research
The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation is committed to investing in depression research. Thanks to our generous donors over the last four years, we have invested almost a half million dollars to depression research at esteemed North Texas institutions such JPS Behavioral Health and TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.
In 2019 and 2020 The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation provided research funding to John Peter Smith (JPS) Behavioral Health for the “Better Tools!” project. The “Better Tools!” project is a patient-focused predictive analytics project that can determine suicide risk factors in a patient’s electronic health record, allowing additional preventative care measures for mental health professionals in the fight against suicide.
Check out some of the articles below to learn how our funding has helped create scientific breakthroughs:
Depression is a crippling problem that hijacks a patient’s neurochemistry, often making it impossible to “see the bright side.” While many potential therapeutic applications exist, there has been a longstanding quarrel between treating depression chemically or through interventions like talk therapy. While some psychiatrists are advocates for both, no silver bullet seems possible for all people who suffer from this condition.
In recent years the drug has been discovered to have notable rapid-acting effects as an anti-depressant. Despite growing anecdotal support, scientists have not had a clear understanding of how ketamine's anti-depressant effects actually work. A new study has finally solved a key part of the ketamine mystery, discovering how it triggers its anti-depressant effects.
UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have identified a key protein that helps trigger ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects in the brain, a crucial step to developing alternative treatments to the controversial drug being dispensed in a growing number of clinics across the country.
UT Southwestern researchers have identified a key protein that helps trigger ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects in the brain.
The key to more effectively prescribing antidepressants may be in your blood. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a marker called the C-reactive protein, or CRP, which is found in higher concentrations in the blood of people with depression.
Researchers exploring a possible link between inflammation and depression have found that certain protein levels in the blood can predict whether an antidepressant is likely to relieve depression symptoms.