Depression and bipolar disorder, known as mood disorders, significantly impact the lives of many Canadians, especially women and the LGBTQ+ community. Although many treatments are available, it is often challenging for clinicians to determine which treatment is the right one for a particular individual. Clinical trials of new medications for mood disorders often have very strict criteria for inclusion in a trial, to maximize the chance that a treatment will work. This practice excludes many people who are representative of the real-world experience of mood disorders. The Enabling Neuroscience research Approaches for Brain, feeLings and Emotions (ENABLE) platform aims to change this by creating an inclusive database of Canadians with mood disorders, that also includes measurements of the many important factors that may contribute to mood disorders such as childhood trauma, life events, gender diversity, as well as traditional biomarkers such as blood samples, and brain images, measures of brain activity and daily activity, along with other symptom and behavioral profiles. Collected with a research protocol that was co-designed with people with living experience of mood disorders, this rich data can then be analysed to identify subtypes of mood disorders, and participants can have the opportunity to participate in trials that are appropriate for them. This knowledge collected in the ENABLE platform will be shared with the research community to improve the care and treatment of mood disorders. More importantly, the ENABLE platform can facilitate more meaningful clinical trials to develop improved treatments, ultimately leading to a better quality of life for individuals with mood disorders.
