Efficacy in the Treatment of Depression: A New Paradigm to Meet the Patient’s Expectations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25752/psi.7645Keywords:
Depression, Treatment, Antidepressant Efficacy, Agomelatine.Abstract
Background: There is a need to improve the efficacy evaluation methods of the antidepressants in order to allow the inclusion of symptoms which express more the improvement of the patient expectations. In the present article we present a discussion about the efficacy evaluation of agomelatine, particularly regarding positive and negative emotions associated with depression.
Aims: The main objective of this article is to demonstrate the limitations of the classic methods of antidepressants’ efficacy evaluation. Secondarily, it points out the need to find other methods of evaluation in order to include the evaluation of negative and positive emotions linked to depression.
Methods: A critic and systematic literature review was carried out about methodology of antidepressant evaluation efficacy. The literature of agomelatine efficacy was also reviewed.
Results and Conclusions: The evaluation of antidepressants efficacy through the traditional scales of Hamilton (HAM-D) or Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) have shown limitations which points out to the need of looking to the evaluation of other parameters and symptoms with more value to the patients. The superior efficacy of agomelatine was shown concerning the evaluation of positive and negative emotions in comparison with SSRIs and SNRIs.
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