Treatment of post-psychotic depression in first-episode psychosis. A systematic review

Post-psychotic depression (PPD) after a FEP (first-episode psychosis) differs from other depressive symptoms in chronic schizophrenia in its aetiology, symptomatology, and prognostic implications. The objective was to search if any pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions have proven to be effective on depressive symptoms after a FEP.

for this systematic review we systematically searched and screened PubMed for articles published from August 1975 to October 15, 2020, with the terms: treatment AND first-episode psychosis OR post-psychotic OR post-schizophrenic AND depression.

we identified 139 articles of which 20 met the inclusion criteria. These interventions were then categorized into four subgroups (antipsychotics, antidepressants, psychological and miscellaneous).

this review has several limitations. The reviewed studies were heterogeneous as to assessments, interventions, and samples; furthermore, only one study had PPD in FEP as its primary outcome.

to our knowledge, this is the first review of PPD in a FEP's treatment. PPD continues to be a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The available evidence for the use of treatment whether pharmacological or non-pharmacological is limited. However, certain approaches such as online therapy and treatment with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) show promising results. It could be of interest for future studies to focus not only on the treatment of PPD but also on the diagnostic heterogeneity of the sample and the adaptation of the content of the intervention to the individual.