Overview of Mood Disorders: Diagnosis, Classification,and Management

This discussion of the diagnosis, classification, and epi-demiology of clinical depression includes details of the associated physical morbidity, mortality, and impairment. Treatment approaches to depressive disorders are cate-gorized with an emphasis on medication management, including improved treatment efficacy and progress with respect to side effects and toxicity. Although considerable advances have been made, with 18 antidepressant com-pounds being available and the impending release of two new antidepressant compounds in 1994, no one agent has demonstrated greater efficacythan another. Currently available studies suggest that only 21-42 % of patients entered into treatment reach full recovery, while 20 % of patients do not respond to available treatment but remain chronically depressed. Thus, the development of mor