Treating depression to full remission.

For more than a decade, the goal of major depressive disorder treatment has been achieving and sustaining remission, which involves complete resolution of depressive symptoms and a return to previous levels of mental and physical functioning. By implementing measurement-based care, clinicians may better assess patient response to treatment. Several depression rating scales are available for use in clinical practice. Consulting clinical guidelines and findings of clinical trials that include remission as a primary outcome measure may also help clinicians to improve remission rates among their patients. Copyright 2009 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.