title: Diagnosis and definition of treatment-resistant depression.
abstract: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) typically refers to inadequate response to at least one antidepressant trial of adequate doses and duration. TRD is a relatively common occurrence in clinical practice, with up to 50% to 60% of the patients not achieving adequate response following antidepressant treatment. A diagnostic re-evaluation is essential to the proper management of these patients. In particular, the potential role of several contributing factors, such as medical and psychiatric comorbidity, needs to be taken into account. An accurate and systematic assessment of TRD is a challenge to both clinicians and researchers, with the use of clinician-rated or self-rated instruments being perhaps quite helpful. It is apparent that there may be varying degrees of treatment resistance. Some staging methods to assess levels of treatment resistance in depression are being developed, but need to be tested empirically.
authors.affiliation: Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fava
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D004351:Drug Resistance; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents