첫 삽화 이후의 임상적 경과와 치료전략

Abstract

The long-term course of depression has been underestimated because it is considered as an episodic disease. A small number of long-term researches suggested that depression would be a life-long disorder and have the various faces of courses. Although pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy are effective treatment modalities for depression, those prospective studies showed that depression is a chronic disorder and the individual with depression has a low rate of recovery and a high rate of relapse. Especially, the symptoms are more chronic in the patients who have not accomplished a recovery within one year from a single episode. Therefore clinicians should pay attention to residual symptoms and resolve these symptoms through the use of precisely timed treatment. Moreover, after remission, patients with depression will continue to benefit from maintenance treatment of antidepressant over a period of 6 month to diminish the risk of relapse.