The Promise of Precision Medicine for Treating Alcohol Use Disorder and PTSD-View Presentation

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Video Summary

In an insightful session led by Dr. Charlie Marmer, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the discussion revolved around transforming the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders through precision medicine. Dr. Marmer emphasized the pitfalls in current psychiatric practices, which heavily rely on subjective self-reports and lack objective, laboratory-based diagnostic tools, unlike other medical fields. He argued for the need to customize psychiatric treatments to individual patients, similar to advancements in oncology and cardiology.<br /><br />Throughout the presentation, Dr. Marmer outlined several studies aiming to achieve this precision. Among these were investigations utilizing genomic, neurocognitive, and neurocircuitry tools to better understand and diagnose PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder. The studies discussed included the use of blood biomarkers, voice markers, and cognitive assessments to differentiate between conditions and predict treatment responses. Notably, he shared findings where machine learning models identified specific biomarkers and voice characteristics that could predict PTSD with high accuracy, highlighting a potential move towards more objective diagnostic measures.<br /><br />Further, Dr. Marmer shared insights into active research aimed at developing precision treatments, detailing complex statistical analyses performed on clinical trial data to identify factors predictive of positive treatment outcomes. This ongoing research supports the notion that psychiatric care can become as personalized and effective as treatment for other major medical conditions, marking a pivotal shift in the field. The session concluded with an optimistic view of integrating these advanced tools into regular psychiatric practice within the next decade.

Keywords

precision medicine

psychiatric disorders

Dr. Charlie Marmer

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

subjective self-reports

objective diagnostic tools

customized treatments

genomic tools

neurocognitive tools

neurocircuitry tools

PTSD

machine learning

biomarkers