Iām also pretty uninformed on the biomarkers aspect. Beyond what they say in the paper:
One reason why we do not find significant effects on biomarkers at conventional levels
may be power issues combined with relatively noisy measures. Another, related reason may be
the composition of our sample: high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines have been found for major depression; respondents in our sample, however, report, on average, only mild depressive
symptomatology, pre-treatment. In fact, we find that only eight out of 133 respondents (about
6%) report strong depressive symptomatology, as indicated by PHQ-9 scores of fifteen or
higher. Moreover, even amongst these, only about a third show associated elevated
inflammation (Wium-Andersen and Nielsen, 2013). For cortisol, individual differences and
timing of measurement matter; it has been found to be a rather short-term measure for stress
(Miller et al., 2007).
I found Table 5 here gives a bit more context on the correlation between these biomarkers and different outcomes.
Iām also pretty uninformed on the biomarkers aspect. Beyond what they say in the paper:
I found Table 5 here gives a bit more context on the correlation between these biomarkers and different outcomes.