The Antidepressant Is Helping - But Not Enough

Get more practical learning and clinical tools for mental health and substance-use care in outpatient settings at Collaborative Psychiatry.

A patient can still say, "I'm depressed," even when an antidepressant has changed something meaningful. Low periods may be shorter, mornings may take less effort, or getting to work may be more reliable. Those changes can be easy to miss if the only question is whether the depression has resolved.

This episode looks at how to recognize a partial response, check whether the medication has had an adequate trial, and use the response pattern to decide whether to give it more time, optimize the dose, switch antidepressants, or consider augmentation. Side effects, safety, and the patient's priorities may change the usual next step.

Visit the episode page for the key clinical takeaways and two downloadable resources: Antidepressant Response: Optimize, Switch, or Augment?, a two-page clinical decision tool, and Antidepressant Response Check-In, a worksheet patients can bring to follow-up to describe what has changed. Both downloads are available with a free Collaborative Psychiatry account.

For a broader approach to diagnosis, medication selection, follow-up, switching, and augmentation, explore the Managing Depression in Primary Care Clinical Framework.

You can also browse more Collaborative Psychiatry QuickTakes.