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Antidepressants: Partial Response in Chronic Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Jan Fawcett
Jan Fawcett*
Affiliation:
Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center, 1725 West Harrison, Suite 955, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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Abstract

Although most studies of chronic depression show significant improvements with antidepressants versus placebo, the average Hamilton Depression Rating Scale results attained in the active-treatment group range between 10 and 14, suggesting that many patients only partially responded and failed to reach premorbid levels of symptom remission. Studies on the fate of these patients suggest that they are much more vulnerable to relapse, work impairment and suicide. Thus, partial response may be one form of treatment resistance, falling between total failure of response in a minority of patients, and a tendency to relapse or recur despite adequate maintenance treatment. Further study is needed to address the problem of improving the quality of response and attempting to reduce the detrimental effects of depressive illness in terms of relapse and recurrence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 165 , Issue S26: Depression: Challenge for the '90s , December 1994 , pp. 37 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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