Psychiatria pre prax 1/2010

Atypical antipsychotics in the augmentation of antidepressants in the treatment of depressive disorder

Depressive disorder is a relatively common disease in the population. Lifetime prevalence of major depression is 5–12 % in men and 9–26 % in women. Only 20–30 % patients treated with first antidepressant achieves remission. The use of atypical antipsychotics in the augmentation of antidepressant treatment is modern and often used method in the treatment of resistant depression. The authors comment the results of double-blind studies in this topic and discuss problem areas of this type of treatment.

Keywords: atypical antipsychotics, depressive disorder, treatment, augmentation