Shared and differing treatment goals in major depressive disorder

Professor Roger McIntyre sat down at ECNP 2022 and discussed how essential shared prescriber-patient therapeutic objectives are prior to antidepressant treatment choice and initiation for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Patients and prescribers may differ in how they rank the order of importance of these objectives, with prescribers lending more weight to symptom improvement and patients to functionality. This needs to be taken into consideration when deciding which antidepressant treatment to prescribe. Partial response to treatment is common in MDD and can, discussed Prof McIntyre, be ascertained as soon as 2−3 weeks following treatment initiation. Following dose optimisation, further partial response can then be determined after an additional 1−2 weeks and an alternative treatment strategy can be then utilised if needed.