Clinical depression follow-up

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Patients with clinical depression should be followed up four to six weeks following the initiation of the treatment to assess for any improvement of symptoms and treatment adherence.

Follow-up

The Veteran Affairs/Department of Defense (VA/DoD) clinical practice guidelines for management of major depressive disorder recommends the following regarding the follow up of patients:

• The follow-up period from the time of initial diagnosis is four to six weeks.
• At time of follow-up, a repeat PHQ-9 and an evaluation of the risk for suicide should be completed in order to assess treatment response.
• How well treatment was tolerated, adherence to treatment, other influential medical problems, and psychosocial barriers to therapy should also be addressed at the time of follow-up.