Depression/Stress

[believeme]

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I would like to get psychiatry opinion, is it possible for the expert to detect depression/stress from eye imaging? Does this idea make sense? Do you think the stress or depression reflected in the eyes of your patient?

 

[whopper]

I've seen data where things with the eyes could help, but not with depression or stress. Further, these are things that are not the standard in clinical practice. E.g. schizophrenic patients often have trouble tracking fast moving objects with smooth pursuit gaze, but this is difficult to track clinically, and thus no doctor I know of uses this.

If there's data out there concerning the eyes and depression or stress I don't know about it.

A google search yielded this, but I don't know much about it.
http://www.keystoneedge.com/inthenews/pupildilation0428.aspx

The above appears to be something still being researched.

 

[believeme]

Thanks , it really good. i come across a few published research where they trying to find biomarker for Alzheimer's, Parkinson, Stroke and Multiple Sclerosis through eyes imaging (fundus images) thats why I do think depression can be examine from eyes as well.

Like your example, is it frequent that the depressed patient complaining having vision problem? what are other problem of eyes they might having?

I've seen data where things with the eyes could help, but not with depression or stress. Further, these are things that are not the standard in clinical practice. E.g. schizophrenic patients often have trouble tracking fast moving objects with smooth pursuit gaze, but this is difficult to track clinically, and thus no doctor I know of uses this.

If there's data out there concerning the eyes and depression or stress I don't know about it.

A google search yielded this, but I don't know much about it.
http://www.keystoneedge.com/inthenews/pupildilation0428.aspx

The above appears to be something still being researched.

 

[whopper]

I've nothing significant in clinical practice that involved the eyes in regards to psychiatric diagnosis or treatment.

Yes, there are studies showing that eye movement and reactions to certain visual stimuli could help to diagnose. I've recently read two articles, one showing that a patient's reaction to visual stimuli could have significant implications in their susceptibility to PTSD, and another showing it could diagnose Alzheimer's way before other medical tests current can.

But these are studies that have not yet trickled down to clinical practice, if they ever will. The schizophrenia data I mentioned has long been known, but it's never been incorporated into usual clinical practice.

Some psychiatric medications can cause eye problems. E.g. Topamax can cause glaucoma.

 

[carolinablue]

PsychNews: Unhappy People Avoid Eye Contact, Finds Research http://bit.ly/r9flaD

 

[IT514]

Similar studies have been done with autism. In fact a recent study came out saying that a pupil dilation response classified kids with autism from typically developing kids with 92.5% sensitivity. I think the Alzheimer's study came out over 10 years ago, and now we're on to CSF biomarkers.

The problem with these studies is very low specificity. The media loved the autism study but no one cares clinically because we never get a kid brought in for an eval with the question of autism vs normal. Its autism vs aspergers vs ADHD vs LD vs PDD vs whatever else.

With depression, I would imagine that the problem would be differentiating whether the persons dog just died, their boyfriend just dumped them, they watched a sad movie last night, or they do in fact have depression and need treatment that day. If a test can do that, great, but I'm on the skeptical side for now.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Similar studies have been done with autism. In fact a recent study came out saying that a pupil dilation response classified kids with autism from typically developing kids with 92.5% sensitivity. I think the Alzheimer's study came out over 10 years ago, and now we're on to CSF biomarkers.

The problem with these studies is very low specificity. The media loved the autism study but no one cares clinically because we never get a kid brought in for an eval with the question of autism vs normal. Its autism vs aspergers vs ADHD vs LD vs PDD vs whatever else.

With depression, I would imagine that the problem would be differentiating whether the persons dog just died, their boyfriend just dumped them, they watched a sad movie last night, or they do in fact have depression and need treatment that day. If a test can do that, great, but I'm on the skeptical side for now.

We do have a test.
It's called "the clinical interview", or in everyday language, "asking the patient".

 

[IT514]

Exactly, which is why I'm skeptical of kinda cool but clincally useless eye tests.