DEPRESSIVE-ILLNESS AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOMATIC ANTIDEPRESSANT TREATMENT

Depression constitutes a considerable mental health problem. Depressio n is too often unrecognized or unproperly treated, which causes distre ss, social impairment, and increased risk of mortality for the individ ual, and large costs for society. However, several efficient treatment modalities and strategies exist. Different somatic antidepressant tre atments for short- and long-term therapy and their respective quality- of-life and economic aspects will be presented and discussed.