JPMS NEWSPsychiatric disorders are always difficult to diagnose. With symptoms almost always being non-definable and clinician observations being subjective in nature, the guidelines for diagnosis by learned socities and agencies have not been helpful. However, a preliminary study published in the Translational Psychiatry in April this year has identified certain biological markers in blood which are found in teenagers with early-onset major depressive disorder (MDD). Thus, the study raises hopes for the development of a simple blood test for the diagnosis of MDD and potentially making an objective tool available to the physician.The test would reduce diagnostic heterogeneity and has the potential to advance individualized treatment strategies, especially from the very early stages of the disease. However, studies to examine the utility of this test in actual clinical practice have not yet been performed
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