Description
This article is from the Depression
FAQ, by Cynthia Frazier with numerous contributions by
others.
19 How do you tell when a treatment is not working? How do you know when to switch treatments?
Antidepressant treatment is clearly not working when the individual
receiving the treatment remains depressed or becomes depressed again.
When a recently started antidepressant fails to cause improvement,
the depressed individual often asks that the medication be stopped,
and a new one started. It generally does not make sense to change
antidepressants until 8-weeks at the maximum tolerated dose have
elapsed. With some tricyclic antidepressants, it is important to
check the blood level of the antidepressant before it is stopped. The
blood test can tell if the amount in the blood has been adequate.
Only after an adequate trial of one antidepressant should another be
tried. To have been on four antidepressants in an 8-week period means
that one has not had an adequate trial on any of them.
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