Current Treatment of Depression
Charles L. Bowden M.D.1
1 The Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78284
The author reviews current treatments for depression, emphasizing the biological therapies as the source of numerous developments in recent years. He outlines findings related to drug selection, the newer antidepressants, nonstandard antidepressants such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors, combined and maintenance drug therapy, and usefulness of plasma levels, along with developments in electroconvulsive therapy and cognitive and interpersonal therapy. Although some of the findings are technically arcane, he says, many of them can be translated into more effective patient care with the resources currently available to most psychiatrists.
