[Multifactorial treatment of depression]

According to the results of all recent epidemiological enquiries, the number of cases of depression diagnosed is steadily increasing, especially in urban communities. Parallel with this increase, there has been a clear tendency for the symptomatology of depression to change in the direction of somatization. Essential prerequisites for the success of treatment of depression are not only a carefully established diagnosis but - ordinarily - also combination of the psycho-, pharmaco-, socio- and physiotherapy. In case of depressive states the nosological diagnosis determines the choice of basic therapy and the phenomenological diagnosis the selection of the right antidepressant. All antidepressants have a delayed onset of action and are apt to provoke side effects of varying severity. Prior to the initiation of treatment the patient's attention should be drawn to the possibility of side effects. The basic principles of psychotherapy for depression are briefly outlined. The possibilities to treat therapy-resistant depressions with a combined infusion therapy are prescribed. The recent improvements in biological psychiatry are shown.