Affiliation:
1. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Northeastern University, 206 Mugar Building, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA02115.
Abstract
Ten to thirty percent of patients do not respond adequately to antidepressant therapy. Absolute treatment refractory depression occurs in up to 10% of patients with depression. To date, few studies have addressed this issue. Several treatment options are available for refractory depression, including increasing the dose, extending the treatment period, switching and augmentation strategies, and electroconvulsive therapy. This paper will review some strategies available for treatment refractory depression.