A GROUNDBREAKING new way of helping patients find the right antidepressant drugs faster has been spearheaded by Oxford academics.

Researchers at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford University have launched a new Europe-wide study into how to get patients suffering from depression the right medication quicker.

While the market is flooded with antidepressant drugs, different ones suit different people and it can take four to six weeks to know whether the medication is working.

The Oxford-led research team has found a method which it hopes could show within a week whether the patient has the right medication for them.

Academics at the trust and the university's Department of Psychiatry, working alongside Wallingford-based P1Vital Products, believe the new method will allow doctors to predict which medications will be effective sooner.

Oxford Health consultant psychiatrist Dr Michael Browning said: "Too many patients with depression have to wait months before finding a treatment that helps them.

"If successful, this study will demonstrate how to drastically reduce this period and so reduce the often devastating impact that depression can have on lives."

Researchers found that while people with depression normally have a bias towards negative information, this disappears within a week of finding the right drug.

The new PReDicT (Predicting Response to Depression Treatment) study will be tested in GP surgeries across Europe to see if it is effective.

Patients involved in the study will be asked to judge whether faces flashing across a screen are sad or happy.

The team expect patients with depression to be quicker to spot sad faces or judge happy faces sad, and the study will measure if the antidepressant medication which people are prescribed changes this pattern.

It is hoped more patients using the PReDicT test are feeling better within six to eight weeks compared to patients treated in the normal way.