News/Bad News in the Treatment of Depression The good news is
that advances in the treatment of depression in the past decade
have led to better recognition of those with depression, and
also to a reduction in the number of relapses by continuing to
treat patients once they have responded to an antidepressant. A
plethora of new agents introduced in the past decade have proved
to have not only better tolerability than the tricyclic
antidepressants that they replaced, but also a broader spectrum
of efficacy across affective and anxiety disorders. Furthermore,
over half of depressed patients will recover within 6 months of
an index episode and more than three fourths will recover by 2
years.1 The bad news is that even those patients whose
depression is recognized and who respond to antidepressants may
frequently be inadequately treated. That is, it is not enough to
get a response from an antidepressant and to improve functioning
--it is necessary to complete the job by aiming for complete
recovery, removal of all