Table I. Summary of ACNP Task Force recommendations. Adapted from ref 6: Rush AJ, Kraemer HC, Sackeim HA, et al. Report by the ACNP Task Force on Response and Remission in Major Depressive Disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2006;31:1841-1853. Copyright© … The ACNP Task Force also reviewed the literature on potential associated factors which may influence the remission, the time of remission and the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical stability of the remission.6 These factors include among others the type of treatment, the dose,

the duration of treatment, baseline severity of depressive symptoms, the stage of treatment, resistance (TRD), the compliance, the presence of DSM-IV Axis I, II, or III conditions, environmental stressors, the degree of social support, and the retrospective morbidity of

the illness, as well as neurobiological and genetic vulnerability. There is no general consensus about the length of time the depressed patient in remission should remain in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical remission, but, according to most experts, this period of remission is expected to last between 4 and 6 months to be of clinical relevance for the patient.10 The length of the remission period is obviously of great clinical relevance to the patient, and is also Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical contingent, on the continuation of antidepressant treatment. In a review of 31 randomized trials, Geddes and Colleagues13 have shown that continuing treatment with antidepressants reduced the risk of relapse by 70% compared with treatment discontinuation. The treatment effect, seemed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to persist for between 12 and 36 months. A long-term naturalistic study conducted in Japan by Furukawa and Colleagues in a cohort of 95 unipolar major depressive patients followed up for a 10-year period was recently reported.14 The authors assessed the definition of recovery according to the length of time of remission. Based on the results, they concluded that a period of 2 months of remission was too short to define recover}’, but proposed that a period of 4 to 6 months of remission may be more adequate. ‘This study, research however, was not. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical controlled and the sample size was too small to draw

definitive Vasopressin Receptor conclusions. Unfortunately, as previously stated, a significant, number of patients do not. remain symptom-free and continue to present subsyndromal depression or subthreshold depression for some time during their lifetime. These patients have been shown to have a higher risk of early relapse into depression, lower levels of social and psychological functioning, and greater rates of physical morbidity such as cardiovascular disease and stroke, as well as higher rates of mortality.15 Thase has reported that more than one third of depressed patients will reach remission after acute antidepressant treatment.16 Most clinical trials report remission rates of 22% to 40%,“ while effectiveness studies including representative samples of depressed patients closer to clinical practice report lower remission rates – around 11% to 30% .