Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:18-23
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Continuation drug therapy for major depressive episodes: how long should it be maintained?
RF Prien and DJ Kupfer
A major problem for the practitioner is the lack of satisfactory guidelines
as to how long continuation drug treatment of depressive episodes must be
maintained to ensure that the episode is over. This often leads to either
premature withdrawal of the drug and subsequent relapse or unnecessarily
prolonged treatment. Results from a collaborative project of the National
Institute of Mental Health provide the first study-derived guidelines on
the length of continuation therapy. Findings indicate that withdrawal of
such therapy is safe only after the patient has been free of significant
symptoms for 16 to 20 weeks and that focusing on mild as well as severe
symptoms is critical in this decision.
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