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the news hound again; more on cd [clinical depression] and medications. janet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Antidepressant Change Warranted If No Improvement At Four Weeks -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WESTPORT, Sep 20 (Reuters) - When should clinicians switch antidepressants? Dr. Frederic M. Quitkin and colleagues at Columbia University in New York recommends a change after four weeks, if the dosage prescribed is adequate and if the patient's condition hasn't improved even minimally. Dr. Quitkin lays out guidelines for when to change antidepressant treatment in the current issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. He describes the following "chronological milestones" that indicate when a change is needed: - when a patient tolerates an adequate dosage of an antidepressant, but when that dose has no effect on the patient's condition after four weeks; and - when a patient's condition has only minimally improved and when it does not continue to improve after five weeks of therapy. The authors notes that only about 10% of patients will not improve on an adequate dosage of an antidepressant. He adds that patients who show minimal improvement after five weeks of therapy should continue to receive the same treatment for another week, at which point the clinician can reevaluate the need for a change in treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1996;53:785-792. Westport Newsroom 203 2217648 Copyright _ 1996 Reuters Limited. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]