Analysis and evaluation of current guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of depressive disorders

Depressive disorders are of high clinical and economic relevance in outpati ent and inpatient care. For the treatment of depression effective measures, are available. However, these methods often are not used because depressiv e disorders are underdetected or underestimated in their severity. To impro ve diagnostic and therapeutic processes in the last years different nationa l and international organizations developed guidelines for diagnosis and tr eatment of depressive disorders (e.g. AHCPR, APA, German Association of Psy chiatrists). These guidelines differ substantially in their goals, content, size, specifically in their methodological quality. The Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) and the German Agency for Q uality in. Medicine (AQUMED) developed a checklist to evaluate the methodol ogical quality of guidelines, This manual was used to describe and analyze the most relevant and actual six guidelines for diagnosis: and treatment of depressive disorders. Recommendations for further improvement and implemen tation of these guidelines are given.