[Antidepressive therapy - dosing recommendations at beginning and end of treatment]

The knowledge of diagnostic procedures and therapy of depressive disorders is very important for every physician because of the high incidence of the disease. Particularly with regard to the critical phases of therapy, onset and discontinuation of antidepressive medication, a close contact between patient and physician is needed to identify adverse effects of the medication and withdrawal phenomena. The following article reviews current antidepressants and recommendations for starting and stopping antidepressive therapy mainly based on clinical experience because only limited evidence-based treatment schedules are available.