Novel Approaches to Assessment and Treatment of Late-life Depression

Depression in late life is common and associated with suffering, reduced quality of life, increased risk of disability, cardiac, cerebrovascular, peripheral diseases, suicidality, all-cause mortality, and economic burden. Many older adults face significant access barriers to mental health services and often remain undiagnosed and untreated. When treatments are considered for late-life depression, antidepressants often have modest efficacy, and older adults prefer alternative approaches. Novel technologies including ecological momentary assessments using mobile devices and machine learning models, can guide the development of scalable and rapid assessments of late-life depression. Further, new therapeutic approaches, such as transcranial direct current stimulation and machine-learning guided psychotherapies, may improve efficacy and provide an alternative to existing therapies. In this session we will present three studies that leverage novel therapeutics and technologies to improve assessment and treatment of late-life depression. We will present findings of research studies in late-life depression and cognitive dysfunction, describe clinical implications. and discuss how findings can be implemented to improve the standard of care in community settings.