[Basics of Pharmacotherapy for the Benefits of Patients]

The essence of drug therapy is to avoid the unnecessary use of drugs. We must initially consider whether or not to use a drug. For a depressive state, drugs are not necessary for an understandable psychological reaction, and should be carefully prescribed for mild depression with minor impairment in social and occupational functioning. Antidepressants do not have non-specific mood improvement effects. They exert effects by correcting the neurochemical imbalance related to the pathological depression. When we use pharmacotherapy, monotherapy is the basis. Monotherapy allows us to estimate the effects and side-effects properly, and to check the results with clinical evidence. Although the benefits of drug therapy are certain, we must remember that the risks cannot be reduced to zero even with efforts to minimize them.