ABSTRACT
Chiara Ruini and Giovanni A. Fava Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy and Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.
I. PHARMACOTHERAPY Richard C. Shelton
Depression is often treated as a short-term, self-limiting condition, and some patients do experience the illness in this manner. However, this is the exception rather than the rule (1). Most unipolar depressive conditions are either chronic or recurring in 80% or more of patients (2-4). The long-term nature of the condition tends to result in sustained or recurrent impairment, making unipolar depression possibly the single most disabling of all medical conditions (5). Nonetheless, the condition remains under-recognized and undertreated, particularly in considering long-term management (6). Although acute management is important, the management of depression should focus primarily on the improvement of long-term outcome, in the same manner as other chronic medical conditions.
