Mood disorders

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(Es)Ketamine treatment for depression

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General

Congress recording

35th ECNP Congress 2022 collection

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General

Congress recording

36th ECNP Congress 2023 collection

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Congress recording

37th ECNP Congress 2024 collection

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Congress recording

Celebrating failure and success

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Congress recording

Communicating your research to the media and the public

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Mood disorders

Podcasts

Decoding depression: the serotonin solution

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Depression: state-of-the-art and future directions in research and treatment (In-depth)

Mood disorders

Courses

Depression: state-of-the-art and future directions in research and tr…

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Depression: state-of-the-art and future directions in research and treatment (On-demand)

Depression: state-of-the-art and future directions in research and treatment (On-demand) ECNP Communications 12 June 2025, 10:00 CET

Knowledge tests during and after lectures

Description

This course aims to provide a state-of-the-art overview of prevention and treatment strategies to reduce the impact of depression in our society. For this, it is essential to learn about preclinical and clinical research activities and developments that are ongoing to further advance the development of (novel) prevention and treatment strategies. By providing 8 biweekly lectures by experts on the concept of depression, the etiology of depression and on key current and emerging prevention and treatment strategies of depression, this course will update early-career scientists and clinicians of developments in the field. After this course, students will have a more comprehensive understanding of current and emerging topics in the fields of depression research and how these impact prevention and treatment strategies.

This course is organised by the ECNP Depression Meta-Network, with Brenda Penninx and Andreas Reif as principal organisers.

Please note that this is the on-demand track. Looking for a more interactive experience? Consider applying for the in-depth track. This track includes everything in the on-demand track, plus:

Live sessions with course lecturers
A group assignment to apply your knowledge
An in-person colloquium on 10 October in Amsterdam, Netherlands for deeper engagement and networking

Seats for the in-depth track are limited and submission deadline is 3 July 2025.

Learning objectives

To realise the public health impact of depression, its heterogeneity and its transdiagnostic relevance.
To understand the multi-component and complex aetiology of depression and how this is relevant in shaping precision medicine approaches for depression.
To understand (the state-of-the art evidence) of treatment of depression and what new developments are to be expected in the future.

Audience

Early-career clinical or preclinical researchers and clinicians (holding an MSc or MD), with an interest in depression research and treatment.

Course format

This on-demand track offers a flexible, self-paced learning, which includes:

Ten 30-minute video lectures, available to watch at your own convenience
Embedded knowledge tests within each lecture
Pre-course and post-course tests to assess your understanding at the beginning and end of the course

To successfully complete the on-demand track, participants must:

Watch all lectures
Complete all knowledge tests

Looking for a more interactive experience? Consider applying for the in-depth track. This track includes everything in the on-demand track, plus:

Live sessions with course lecturers
A group assignment to apply your knowledge
An in-person Colloquium on 10 October in Amsterdam, Netherlands for deeper engagement and networking

Seats for the in-depth track are limited and submission deadline is 9 July 2025.

Course schedule

Lecture 1A - Introduction to depression: Current state of depression treatment (Andreas Reif, Germany) – Released 21 July 2025

Lecture 1B - Introduction to depression: Phenomenology, prevalence and impact (Brenda Penninx, The Netherlands) – Released 21 July 2025

Lecture 2 - Pre-clinical models of depressive neurobehavioral states (Christopher Pryce, Switzerland) – Released 2 September 2025

Lecture 3 - (Epi)Genetics and neurobiology of depression (Elisabeth Binder, Germany) – Released 2 September 2025

Lecture 4 - Environmental risk and resilience factors in depression (Christiaan Vinkers, The Netherlands) – Released 13 October 2025

Lecture 5 - Psychological treatments and depression impact (Pim Cuijpers, The Netherlands) – Released 13 October 2025

Lecture 6 - Psychedelics and depression (Gitte Knudsen, Denmark) – 4 November 2025

Lecture 7 - Brain stimulation (rTMS, ECT, DBS) and depression (Jonathan Repple, Germany) – 4 November 2025

Lecture 8 - Nutrition, microbiome and depression (John Cryan, Ireland) – 25 November 2025

Lecture 9 - Digital health intervention and depression (Inez Germeys, Belgium) – 25 November 2025

How to enrol

This course is freely accessible to all individuals with a myECNP account. If you do not yet have a myECNP account, please visit the ECNP website at ecnp.eu and navigate to the ‘myECNP’ tab.

Registration is open year-round.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at knowledge-hub@ecnp.eu.

This ECNP course provides a state-of-the-art overview of prevention and treatment strategies to reduce the impact of depression in our society. 6 months 2025 free Mental conditions On Courses 15

Faculty

Andreas Reif

Course organiser/speaker

University Hospital Frankfurt | Germany

Brenda Penninx

Course organiser/speaker

Amsterdam UMC | The Netherlands

Christopher Pryce

Speaker

University of Zurich | Switzerland

Elisabeth Binder

Speaker

Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry | Germany

Christiaan Vinkers

Speaker

Amsterdam UMC | The Netherlands

Pim Cuijpers

Speaker

VU University Amsterdam | The Netherlands

Gitte Knudsen

Speaker

Copenhagen University Hospital | Denmark

Jonathan Repple

Speaker

Goethe University Frankfurt | Germany

John Cryan

Speaker

University College Cork | Ireland

John Cryan

Speaker

University College Cork | Ireland

John F. Cryan (Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee 35th, 36th and 37th ECNP congress) is Professor & Chair, Dept. of Anatomy & Neuroscience, University College Cork. He is also a Principal Investigator in the APC Microbiome Institute. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) and PhD from the National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. He was a visiting fellow at the Dept Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia, which was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA and The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California. He spent four years at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Basel Switzerland, as a LabHead, Behavioural Pharmacology prior to joining UCC in 2005. Prof. Cryan's current research is focused on understanding the interaction between brain, gut & microbiome and how it applies to stress, psychiatric and immune-related disorders at key time-windows across the lifespan. Prof. Cryan has published over 650 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has a H-index of 150 (Google Scholar). He is a Senior Editor of Neuropharmacology and of Nutritional Neuroscience. He is on the editorial board of a further 15 journals. He has edited three books and is co-author of the bestselling “The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection” (National Geographic Press, 2017). He has received numerous awards including UCC Researcher of the Year in 2012, the University of Utrecht Award for Excellence in Pharmaceutical Research in 2013, UCC Research Communicator of the Year 2017, and being named on the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher list in 2014 and Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher list in 2017, 2018 & 2019. He was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2017. He also received a Research Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterology Association and the Tom Connor Distinguished Scientist Award from Neuroscience Ireland in 2017 and was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Antwerp, Belgium in 2018. He was a TEDMED speaker in Washington in 2014 and is Past-President of the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society. Prof. Cryan's current research interests include the neurobiological basis of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety and drug dependence. Moreover, his group is also focused on understanding the interaction between brain, gut & microbiome and how it applies to stress and immune-related disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome and obesity and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. He is also interested in applying novel approaches to facilitate drug/siRNA delivery to the brain in vivo.