In the beginning of her talk, Dr. Luciano shared some staggering statistics concerning the cost of depression to our society. At any given time, a significant number of people are clinically depressed, a condition that excludes people who are depressed for a short time, or who are grieving a loss.
Widespread depression has a large cost to our economy, both in medical expenses and lost labor.
Dr. Luciano's research has centered on the use of neural networks to predict the effects of treatment on patients. Depression has multiple causes and it affects different individuals differently. Using data collected from various studies, Dr. Luciano was able to train the neural networks so that they could predict with a large degree of accuracy the results of a given therapy on a patient. There are multiple treatments for depression, including medication and psychotherapy. Given the large financial burden depression can cause, being able to predict which treatment or combination of treatments will work best for a particular patient will not only have a positive effect on the patient, but will also reduce the financial impact on society.