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Review
. 2015 Mar 16:11:701-13.
doi: 10.2147/NDT.S62266. eCollection 2015.

Augmentation with antidepressants in schizophrenia treatment: benefit or risk

Ye-Meng Mao  1 , Ming-Dao Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Augmentation with antidepressants in schizophrenia treatment: benefit or risk

Ye-Meng Mao et al. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. .

Abstract

We focused on the application of antidepressants in schizophrenia treatment in this review. Augmentation of antidepressants with antipsychotics is a common clinical practice to treat resistant symptoms in schizophrenia, including depressive symptoms, negative symptoms, comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and other psychotic manifestations. However, recent systematic review of the clinical effects of antidepressants is lacking. In this review, we have selected and summarized current literature on the use of antidepressants in patients with schizophrenia; the patterns of use and effectiveness, as well as risks and drug-drug interactions of this clinical practice are discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on the treatment of depressive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Keywords: antipsychotics; depressive symptoms; drug-drug interaction.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patterns of antidepressant prescription in schizophrenia treatment. Note: *This data was taken from US Veterans only, and not the general population of the US.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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