Deficits in Memory after an Episode of Depression May Improve with Modafinil

After an episode of depression, almost half of the patients have impaired cognition (executive functioning, memory, attention), which results in poorer functioning and higher risk of relapse. in a study published in Biological Psychiatry CNNI, Muzaffer Kaser and colleagues suggest that modafinil improves memory in those patients. Modafinil is a a wake-promoting agent approved by the FDA for the treatment of narcolepsy and shift work sleep disorder. In a double-blind, randomized study, they compared two groups patients in remitted depression (30 who took a single-dose of 200 mg modafinil vs. 30 who took a single dose of placebo) for cognition and fatigue .

They found that modafinil improves episodic and working memory but has no effect on attention, planning, or fatigue. They hypothesize that patients recovering from

depression have a dysfunction in the hippocampal areas of the brain. Modafinil could improve memory by releasing the neurotransmitter glutamate in the hippoccampus.