Pharmacotherapy of Depression

For many years, we have taught clinical psychopharmacology to residents in psychiatry, neurology, and medicine, as well as to medical students, nurses, psychologists, counselors, and social workers. We have also maintained active clinical practices and research programs. It is our hope that these experiences have produced a book that will serve as a resource in antidepressant therapy for clinicians from many different disciplines. The purpose of Pharmacotherapy of Depression is to provide a compreh- sive overview of antidepressant therapy for clinicians. The contents have evolved from our years of seminars, lectures, and case discussions with our trainees and from our continuing medical education programs. We have tried to provide sufficient depth in reviews of the research literature to support clinical rec- mendations without burdening the reader with information that has little r- evance to the clinical use of antidepressants. We are indebted to the outstanding clinician scientists who have contributed to this volume and to our students who have guided us in its development. We hope that the reader will find that the final product represents a solid foundation for clinicians who are, or will be, prescribing antidepressants. It comes very close to replicating the formal didactics that our trainees experience. Although in practice we supplement this with intensive supervision of patient management, we hope that Pharmacotherapy of Depression will stand alone as a guide to the use of medications for the treatment of depressive illness.