HoldsUp

Charles Raison

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Charles Raison, M.D., is a professor at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Founding Director of the Center for Compassion Studies at the University of Arizona. His research examines the relationships between inflammation, stress, and the development of depression. His published work focuses on interventions for major depressive disorder and mental well-being, including whole-body hyperthermia, psilocybin-assisted therapy, and compassion-centered practices.

68 claims checked on air: 2 context 7 overstated 50 supported 9 unverified 7 flagged

What they said on air - citing their own research

3 citing their own research

0:41:47supportedlowtheir own paperDr. Charles Raison on Depression, the Immune-Brain Interface

In a Swiss pilot study of whole-body hyperthermia for depression, depression scores were reduced by half five days post-treatment.

"We did a first small open sort of clinical study in in Switzerland with these colleagues of mine found an old hyperthermia machine in the basement... and we started just sticking people in it and we saw this powerful antidepressant response that We only looked at people five days later, but clearly five days later their scores were generally cut in half, right?" (said at 0:41:47)

The speaker accurately describes an initial open-label pilot study conducted in Switzerland by their research group, in which a single session of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) was evaluated in patients with major depressive disorder. In that preliminary trial (later reported in the literature and referenced in subsequent randomized trials), depressive symptoms assessed 5 days post-treatment dropped by approximately half from baseline. Because this was a small, uncontrolled open-label pilot, the certainty of evidence from the pilot alone is low, though its findings prompted subsequent randomized sham-controlled trials demonstrating significant antidepressant effects.

0:42:57supportedhightheir own paperDr. Charles Raison on Depression, the Immune-Brain Interface

Over 70% of subjects in the sham whole-body hyperthermia control group believed they received the real treatment.

"And so we put people in the box, we turned on the fake lights, we turned on the heating coils down there and the fan, and 70 percent, more than 70 percent of the people that got the fake treatment thought they got the real treatment." (said at 0:42:57)

In a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial investigating whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) for major depressive disorder (Janssen et al., JAMA Psychiatry 2016), the sham control procedure was designed to mimic all aspects of the intervention without the intense heat (using heating lights, coils, and fans). Blinding success was directly assessed: immediately following the intervention, 10 of 14 participants (71.4%) randomized to the sham control group believed they had received the active WBH treatment.

0:43:43supportedmoderatetheir own paperDr. Charles Raison on Depression, the Immune-Brain Interface

The magnitude of acute IL-6 elevation from whole-body hyperthermia strongly correlated with antidepressant response one week later.

"The the people who got the real heat, their IL-6 shoots up... Now, what's interesting is the higher your IL-6 went up, if you look at the whole population, the higher your IL-6 went up, the more undepressed you were a week later, and it was a pretty strong correlation." (said at 0:43:43)

In a randomized, sham-controlled trial evaluating whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) for major depressive disorder, active WBH produced a sharp, acute increase in plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) immediately post-treatment compared to sham. Across the study sample, this post-treatment increase in IL-6 (and activation of classical IL-6 signaling) was significantly associated with greater reductions in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) depression scores during follow-up.

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