UC Davis Health has new clinic for treatment-resistant depression

SACRAMENTO — A UC Davis clinic is offering hope to those who are struggling with depression.

Dr. Katharine Marder, a psychiatrist with UC Davis Health, works in the clinic for treatment-resistant depression. That is depression that hasn't gotten better with traditional treatments. It affects one in three people with depression.

"What we do know is people with treatment-resistant depression do tend to have more severe depression," Marder said. "They tend to be sick for longer. They tend to have more disability and higher risk of suicide."

Patients will have access to new treatment options including transcranial magnetic stimulation, which uses gentle pulses of magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. Another is esketamine nasal spray.

"In the last 20 years, there's been a lot of research about using much, much lower doses of ketamine — doses that keep a person awake — to try and treat depression," Marder said. "And the results have been incredibly promising."

Candidates for these treatments are adults who have tried two other antidepressants without significant improvement. This new clinic aims to provide treatments that can give people who are struggling a new life.

"As a psychiatrist, there's nothing more rewarding for me than when I'm able to treat a patient and hear them say, 'I feel like myself again' or 'I have my life back,' " Marder said.

The clinic opened earlier this year and is located at the ambulatory care center on the Sacramento campus.