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Published on: January 7, 2019
Adjunctive Therapy With Second-Generation Antipsychotics: The New Standard for Treatment-Resistant Depression?
1Dr. Thase is with the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia (e-mail: thase@mail.med.upenn.edu).
Abstract:
Depressive episodes that do not respond to at least several adequate courses of standard antidepressants account for a substantial proportion of the socioeconomic and medical burden associated with this common illness. As such, treatment-resistant depression represents both an important public health problem and a great unmet need in psychiatric therapeutics. Among the several "add-on" strategies with established efficacy for treatment-resistant depression, the second-generation antipsychotics have become the most commonly used in psychiatric settings. This article briefly examines the benefits and limitations of adjunctive therapy with second-generation antipsychotics to determine whether these medications are now the standard of comparison for new therapies for treatment-resistant depression.
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