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Schizophrenia and depression
Author(s) -
Bosanac Peter,
Castle David J
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja12.10516
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychiatry , depression (economics) , management of schizophrenia , depressive symptoms , mental health , antidepressant , management of depression , medicine , psychology , antipsychotic , primary care , anxiety , family medicine , economics , macroeconomics
Summary Depressive symptoms are common in people with schizophrenia and can be associated with suicidality, but are often either missed or dismissed by clinicians. General practitioners have a key role in initial assessment and subsequent monitoring of depressive symptoms, associated risks and physical health in patients with schizophrenia. Liaison with appropriate non‐government organisations and public or private specialist mental health services can enhance GPs’ management of depression in schizophrenia. Antidepressants, prescribed in tandem with antipsychotics, have a likely therapeutic role for persistent depressive symptoms in schizophrenia, but side effects can be troublesome. Although some of the atypical antipsychotics appear to have primary antidepressant effects, the utility of these agents alone in the setting of persistent depressive symptoms in schizophrenia has not been established.