Sarah Project

If you are between the ages 18 – 65, you may be eligible to take part in a research study of depression.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects 3.7 million people in Canada over their lifetimes, and costs Canadians $21 billion per year.

Progress in understanding depression has been hindered by the fact that different people experience often very different constellations of depression symptoms. The distinction between these very different manifestations of depression is an important one that may have a neurobiological and psychosocial basis; however, it is obscured in research that treats depression as a homogeneous category.

Our goal in the SARA Project is to understand basic domains of functioning (or endophenotypes) that underlie depression and that have a clear psycho-biological basis.

By understanding the different endophenotypes that might underlie the heterogeneous symptom presentations in depression, this may ultimately allow for the development of treatments that are individually tailored to people’s unique pathophysiology.

In particular, we believe that depression is subserved by two endophenotypes: 1. a decreased (or blunted) biological sensitivity to stress, and 2. a decreased responsivity to rewarding or pleasurable stimuli in the environment. We believe that these two endophenotypes share underlying brain mechanisms and early environmental triggers, and result in a similar manifestation of symptoms in depression.

This study is funded by the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network for Depression (CAN-BIND) through the Ontario Brain Institute.

We are actively recruiting depressed and non-depressed participants for this study.

If you are interested email sara.canbind4@gmail.com, or call 613-533.6003 for more information

Help find out what causes depression through your participation in the SARA Project.