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Depression: Response and Remission

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Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology

Synonyms

Response: Improvement, either defined clinically or by rating scales (≥50% reduction in total score).

Remission: Absence of illness, either defined clinically or by rating scales (total score under a certain threshold).

Definition

Psychometrics: The measurement of psychological phenomena (symptoms).

Monitoring of Psychopharmacological Treatment in Depression

In the psychopharmacological treatment of depression, the common goal of the patient and the clinician is to relieve the severity of illness and, eventually, to achieve remission (i.e., absence of depression) (Papakostas and Fava 2010). Essentially, the monitoring of treatment effect can occur in two ways. Either the clinician simply assesses the patient over time by means of observation and general questions such as “Are you feeling better today?” or “Has your mood improved since your last visit?” This approach is simple, but perhaps insufficient in some cases since important information on symptoms may not be obtained....

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Correspondence to Søren Dinesen Østergaard .

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Østergaard, S.D., Papakostas, G.I., Fava, M. (2013). Depression: Response and Remission. In: Stolerman, I., Price, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27772-6_7028-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27772-6_7028-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27772-6

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