Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40420429›Full record

ArticleEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2025

Symptom networks in major depressive disorder and treatment response: special focus on TRD.

Alexander Kautzky, Lucie Bartova, Markus Dold, Daniel Souery, Stuart Montgomery, Joseph Zohar, Julien Mendlewicz, Chiara Fabbri, Alessandro Serretti, Evgenii Tretiakov and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trajectory of response to esketamine nasal spray for treatment resistant depression: Findings from ESCAPE-TRD.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026
    Trial
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Alexander KautzkyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-9251-8285
Lucie BartovaDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-1769-8025
Markus DoldDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-8914-2192
Daniel SoueryLaboratoire de Psychologie Medicale, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Psy Pluriel Centre Europèen de Psychologie Medicale, Brussels, Belgium.
Stuart MontgomeryImperial College, University of London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-5983-0063
Joseph ZoharPsychiatric Division, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.ORCID 0000-0002-6925-9104
Julien MendlewiczSchool of Medicine, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-6131-2732
Chiara FabbriDepartment of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Alessandro SerrettiDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-4363-3759
Evgenii TretiakovDepartment of Molecular Neurosciences, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-5920-2190
Dan RujescuDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-1432-313X
Tibor HarkanyDepartment of Molecular Neurosciences, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-6637-5900
Siegfried KasperDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-8278-191X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHeterogeneous symptoms in major depression contribute to unsuccessful antidepressant treatment, termed treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Psychometric network modeling conceptualizes depression as interplay of symptoms with potential benefits for treatment; however, a knowledge gap exists regarding networks in TRD.

methodsSymptoms from 1,385 depressed patients, assessed by the Montgomery-Åsberg-depression rating scale (MADRS) as part of the "TRD-III" cohort of the multinational research consortium "Group for the Studies of Resistant Depression," were used for Gaussian graphical network modeling. Networks were estimated for two timepoints, pretreatment and posttreatment, after the establishment of outcomes response, non-response, and TRD. Applying the network-comparison test, edge weights, and symptom centrality was assessed by bootstrapping. Applying the network-comparison test, outcome groups were compared cross-sectionally and longitudinally regarding the networks' global strength, invariance, and centrality.

resultsPretreatment networks did not differ in global strength, but outcome groups showed distinct symptom connections. For both response and TRD, global strength was reduced posttreatment, leading to significant differences between each pair of networks posttreatment. Sadness, lassitude, inability-to-feel, and pessimistic thoughts ranked most centrally in unfavorable outcomes, while reduced-appetite and suicidal thoughts were more densely connected in response. Connections between central symptoms increased in strength following unsuccessful treatment, particularly regarding links involving pessimistic thoughts in TRD.

conclusionTreatment reduced global network strength across outcome groups. However, distinct symptom networks were found in patients showing response to treatment, non-response, and TRD. More easily targetable symptoms such as reduced-appetite were central to networks in patients with response, while pessimistic thoughts may be a key symptom upholding disease burden in TRD.

Indexed as

Antidepressive AgentsDepressive Disorder, Treatment-ResistantMajor Depressive DisorderOutcome Assessment, Health CareAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedAntidepressive Agentsantidepressantsmajor depressive disordernetwork analysissymptom networkstreatment-resistant depression

Identifiers

PMID40420429
PMCPMC12260719

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.