Treatment of Depression

Abstract

My aim in this lecture is to review a wide range of published studies on the treatment of depression. I want to look at these with one major clinical question in mind: given the range of treatments available, which treatment should be chosen for which patient? In July 1985 a report, published as a special supplement to the American Journal of Psychiatry, called for more research on this topic:“As the number and diversity of the effective drugs and psychosocial interventions expand, clinicians will increasingly want objective, reliable criteria with which to match the patient to the optimal treatment modality and to monitor the response.” (Institute of Medicine, 1985)