Combination treatment of depression

Severe depression is a common diagnosis and a number of studies have demonstrated the superiority of antidepressants to placebos. More than half of the patients remain depressed despite initial treatment. If reasons like incorrect diagnosis and non-optimal choice of drug or doses are excluded, combination therapy may be considered. Augmentation of antidepressants with lithium or the thyroid hormone T3 has documented effectiveness, mainly with tricyclic antidepressants, but is not frequently used. Less documentation exists for a combination of two antidepressant drugs, but their use is relatively common.