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Clinical practice guideline outlines challenges in depressive disorder management, highlighting the need for integrative Chinese and Western medicine approaches to improve efficacy and adherence.
Depressive disorders are mental illnesses that seriously affect public health. There are approximately 320 million patients with depression worldwide, accounting for 4.4% of the total disease burden. 1 Depression leads to social and occupational impairment, diminished quality of life and an elevated risk of death by suicide. The Global Burden of Disease 2019 study indicated that depression is the second leading medical cause of disability worldwide.2 Despite advances in treatment, several challenges remain in the clinical management of depression, particularly the relatively low response rates among older adults and younger individuals.3 The delayed efficacy of commonly prescribed antidepressants (ADs) poses a risk of inadequate control over suicidal tendencies. Moreover, the numerous adverse reactions associated with ADs, particularly during the initial stages of treatment, significantly impact patient adherence.4
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Liu et al. (2025) studied this question.
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