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Long-term treatment with antidepressants in primary care

Are sub-therapeutic doses still being used?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Imad M. Ali
Imad M. Ali*
Affiliation:
Talygarn, County Hospital Site, Griffithstown, Pontypool, Gwent NP4 5YA
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Abstract

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A postal survey of 222 patients receiving long-term antidepressants in a training general practice showed that the majority were GHQ-12 cases and 62% of respondents reported moderate or severe depressive symptoms on the BDI-13. Although these patients received significantly higher doses than those reporting few or no symptoms, only 40% were prescribed at least a therapeutic antidepressant dose. All patients reporting mild, moderate or severe depressive symptoms consulted their general practitioner significantly more frequently than those without symptoms and the content of these consultations suggested that the general practitioners were aware of these patients' psychological morbidity. Monitoring and appropriate management of patients receiving long-term antidepressants could lead to reduction in morbidity and consultation rate.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 15 - 19
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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