New Blood Test Checks for Depression

Soon, diagnosing someone with clinical depression might involve a needle instead of a couch. Researchers in Tokyo have developed a blood test that can diagnose depression by measuring phosphoric acid levels, the Telegraph reports. An earlier study demonstrated that people with depression tend to have less ethanolamine phosphate in their blood.

There have been blood tests for depression in the past, but they have relied on slower and more costly DNA analysis. Researchers in this new study, however, have found that phosphate level alone should be enough to correctly diagnose depression 82% of the time. (More depression stories.)