Treatment Resistant Depression

Book excerpt: This unique book presents the treatment "roadmap" implemented by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center's Treatment Resistant Depression Program, step-by-step guidance that has long eluded clinicians, patients, and their families. Writing across discipline, modality, lifespan, and patient demographics, the authors have compiled the most current thinking on TRD and distilled it into a highly readable, imminently practical, and brilliantly organized source of hope. The authors believe that early intervention is critical, and they advocate strategies for renewed focus on identifying youths who are at risk or already symptomatic. Similarly, they devote chapters to special populations such as pregnant women, older people, and those with comorbidities. Perhaps most useful to patients and their families, the book has a strong self-care orientation, emphasizing the importance of exercise, nutrition, and healthy sleep guidelines. Patients who are actively engaged in managing their disease often have better outcomes. Treatment Resistant Depression is frequently a lifetime diagnosis. The book acknowledges that fact and offers a systematic course of treatment grounded in evidence-based research that is current and comprehensive. Treatment Resistant Depression: A Roadmap for Effective Care offers a new way of conceptualizing an old enemy, and should prove to be an indispensable weapon in the battle.