Testing an antidepressant medication for people with depression and inflammatory bowel disease

This feasibility study is testing whether mirtazapine, an antidepressant, can help treat depression in people who have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Half of participants will receive the active medication while the other half receive a placebo (inactive pill), and both groups will continue their regular IBD treatments. The study will run for 12 weeks to see if this medication is safe, acceptable, and worth studying more deeply.

Depression is very common in people with IBD and makes their bowel disease harder to manage, but there hasn't been solid research yet on whether this medication—which is less likely to cause digestive side effects than other antidepressants—might help this specific patient group.