Critique of the guidelines for the treatment of depression: flaws in the construction

Abstract

Objective: To examine the likely utility of the recently published Australian and New Zealand clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of depression.

Method: The guidelines are critiqued for their intrinsic logic and their success in extracting potentially valid and useful management templates.

Results: This paper provides examples of key limitations to many specific interpretations and conclusions.

Conclusions: It is argued that these guidelines are far less precise and informative for clinical practice than they appear and with a disturbing lack of rigour for a document promulgated by a professional college.