[Long-term treatment of depressive illnesses]

Depressive and bipolar disorders are affective disorders of chronic nature characterized by the occurrence of depressive episodes with or without manic episodes. Pharmacologic treatment must not be stopped with remission, i.e. cessation of depressive symptoms. Relapse prevention must be carried on over 4-6 months, in many cases maintenance therapy has to be continued for years if not lifelong. Treatment strategies include antidepressants, lithium and anticonvulsants for all of which efficacy in long-term treatment of depression has been shown. In this phase of therapy information and motivation--besides periodical clinical and drug level checks--in order to establish compliance in patients remain important tasks of treating physicians.