Integrating Patients’ Expectations into the Management of Their Depression: Report of a Symposium at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress

A symposium held at the 31st European College of Neuropsychopharmacology congress in October 2018 in Barcelona, Spain discussed patients’ expectations of treatment of their depression and how these can be integrated into patient management. Since treatment non-compliance is a major problem in patients suffering from depression, it is important to identify patients’ expectations to improve treatment compliance and in turn efficacy. Currently, there is no established protocol for choosing the right antidepressant therapy, and physicians need to tailor the choice based on the type of depression, its predominant symptoms, medical and psychiatric history of patients, and their previous response to, and adverse events with, treatment. Treatment strategies also need to be adapted to each patient’s personality/persona and their personal beliefs, and patients need to be aware of the potential for drug-associated adverse events such as emotional blunting, sexual dysfunction and loss of functional outcomes, as the expectation of these events may limit their impact on treatment discontinuation. Also, placebo effects remain frequent with treatment, and there is currently no agreed method for predicting response to therapy. Of the available methods to determine treatment response, pharmacogenetic testing has limited value while functional imaging may be valuable, but is not practical in routine clinical practice. Online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) represents a new option in the clinical management of patients with depression, particularly for patients who may not be able to access direct interaction with a psychotherapist because of the severity of their condition, their geographic location or socioeconomic situation. Online CBT can act as an adjunct to drug treatment and face-to-face psychotherapy, rather than as the sole form of treatment to aid in identifying a patient’s needs, thus meeting the treatment gap and improving compliance and efficacy.