October 2026: The RECOVER Trial of Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Markedly Treatment-Resistant Depression: Critical Findings, Lessons Learned, and Future Directions

Dr. Charles Conway (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis) joins the podcast to discuss the RECOVER trial, a RCT that looked at vagus nerve stimulation and its effects on profoundly treatment resistant depression. Following that, AJP Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ned Kalin is joined by the October issue guest editor, Dr. William McDonald (Emory University, Atlanta) to discuss the rest of the October issue, which focuses on neuromodulation and precision therapeutics. 00:42 Conway interview 02:34 Quality of life 05:13 Ethical considerations of a sham arm in this population 07:00 Timing and VNS treatment 08:03 Clinical implications 09:02 Limitations 10:12 Further research 11:30 McDonald and Kalin interview 13:50 Song et al. 14:08 Li et al. 15:44 Donnery et al. 16:38 Valiengo et al. 17:28 Rush 20:03 Mahmoudi 22:37 Conway et al. Transcript Be sure to let your colleagues know about the podcast, and please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to it. Subscribe to the podcast here. Listen to other podcasts produced by the American Psychiatric Association. Browse articles online. How authors may submit their work. Follow the journals of APA Publishing on Twitter. E-mail us at [email protected]