Depression: Treatment Strategies and Management PDF

Foreword

Drs. Schwartz and Peterson have done it again. In the second edition of their book on depression, they have updated their first volume and put together a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the state of the art for major depressive disorder. This is an excellent compendium for clinicians, starting with a description of the syndrome and its etiology and epidemiology and expanding with additional chapters venturing into the genetics and modern neuroimaging of depression.

Perhaps the most useful new direction of this updated volume is how it now covers a whole host of topics that overlap with depression but are rarely found together in one place: psychotic depression; geriatric depression; and depression with anxiety, pain, personality disorders; medical comorbidities; and substance abuse, all in dedicated chapters. Useful and often neglected topics such as compliance as well as using outcome measurements in clinical practice are additional and unique additions to the book. As before, treatment is an important emphasis of this book.

Therapeutic approaches have been extensively broadened and updated. Not only are the expected antidepressant drugs covered, but also the evidence for the strengths and limitations of antidepressant treatments emerging from the STAR*D study is presented. Natural products are also covered. Perhaps one of the best reviews of the evidence base for treating resistant depression is put together in a particularly impressive chapter. Long-term outcomes not only from antidepressants but also from psychotherapy are discussed in another key contribution. Finally, authors discuss the emergence of neuromodulation therapies, beyond electroconvulsive therapy, now to the rise and fall of vagal nerve stimulation and currently the dawning of clinical applications of the newly approved transcranial magnetic stimulation are presented. Glimpses of the potential for deep brain stimulation are given as well.

In sum, the reader will enjoy a useful and comprehensive approach to depression and its treatment and will again emerge well informed from a scholarly yet practical approach.