ABSTRACT
In an effort to improve quality and cost-effectiveness, many insurance companies and medical associations promote the implementation into everyday practice of prescribing guidelines for both general practitioners and specialists. Guidelines should assist the practitioner with routine decision-making and be based on the best available evidence. Well-known experts or professional associations usually write these guidelines. Recently, many guidelines have been issued by specialists’ associations (e.g. the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde (DGPPN)), national institutions (e.g. the
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), Arzneimittelkommission der deutschen Ärzteschaft (AkdÄ)) and international organizations (e.g. the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP)).
