World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders in Primary Care.

These practical guidelines for the biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders in primary care settings were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). They embody the results of a systematic review of all available clinical and scientific evidence pertaining to the treatment of unipolar depressive disorders and offer practical recommendations for general practitioners encountering patients with these conditions. The guidelines cover disease definition, classification, epidemiology and course of unipolar depressive disorders, and the principles of management in the acute, continuation and maintenance phase. They deal primarily with biological treatment (including antidepressants, other psychopharmacological and hormonal medications, electroconvulsive therapy, light therapy).     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders, Part 1: Acute and continuation treatment of major depressive disorder.

These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). The goal for developing these guidelines was to systematically review all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of unipolar depressive disorders, and to produce a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating patients with these conditions. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for depressive disorders, as well as from meta-analyses and reviews on the efficacy of antidepressant medications and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and was then categorized into four levels of evidence (A-D). This first part of the guidelines covers disease definition, classification, epidemiology and course of unipolar depressive disorders, as well as the management of the acute and continuation-phase treatment. These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antidepressants, other psychopharmacological and hormonal medications, electroconvulsive therapy, light therapy, adjunctive and novel therapeutic strategies) of young adults and also, albeit to a lesser extent, children, adolescents and older adults.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders,Part 2: Maintenance Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment of Chronic Depressive Disorders and Subthreshold Depressions

Summary: These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP), The goal for developing these guidelines was to systematically review all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of the complete spectrum of unipolar depressive disorders, and to produce a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating patients with these conditions. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for depressive disorders, as well as from meta-analyses and reviews on the efficacy of antidepressant medications and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and was then categorized into four levels of evidence (A-D). The first part of these WFSBP guidelines on unipolar depressive disorders covered the acute and continuation treatment of major depressive disorder (Bauer et al 2002). This second part of the guidelines covers the management of the maintenance-phase treatment of major depressive disorder, as well as the treatment of chronic and subthreshold depressive disorders (dysthymic disorder, double depression, minor depressive disorder and recurrent brief depression). These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antidepressants, lithium, other psychopharmacological and hormonal medications, and electroconvulsive therapy) of young adults and also, albeit to a lesser extent, children, adolescents and older adults.

1 It is emphasized that the treatment of dysthymic disorders, subthreshold depressions and other chronic depressive disorders does not involve only long-term treatment but also acute treatment. However, for editorial reasons only, both acute and long-term treatment issues are covered in Part 2 of these guidelines.

2 It is emphasized that a graded efficacy evaluation has its limitations. The strength of a recommendation reflects the scientific evidence on which it is based and not necessarily its importance. Levels of recommendation only apply to treatment and not to other aspects.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders, Part 2: Maintenance treatment of major depressive disorder and treatment of chronic depressive disorders and subthreshold depressions.

These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). The goal for developing these guidelines was to systematically review all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of the complete spectrum of unipolar depressive disorders, and to produce a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating patients with these conditions. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for depressive disorders, as well as from meta-analyses and reviews on the efficacy of antidepressant medications and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and was then categorized into four levels of evidence (A-D). The first part of these WFSBP guidelines on unipolar depressive disorders covered the acute and continuation treatment of major depressive disorder (Bauer et al 2002). This second part of the guidelines covers the management of the maintenance-phase treatment of major depressive disorder, as well as the treatment of chronic and subthreshold depressive disorders (dysthymic disorder, double depression, minor depressive disorder and recurrent brief depression). These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antidepressants, lithium, other psychopharmacological and hormonal medications, and electroconvulsive therapy) of young adults and also, albeit to a lesser extent, children, adolescents and older adults.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders. Part 2: Maintenance Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder-Update 2015

These guidelines for the treatment of unipolar depressive disorders systematically review available evidence pertaining to the biological treatment of patients with major depression and produce a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians assessing and treating patients with these conditions. The relevant data have been extracted primarily from various treatment guidelines and panels for depressive disorders, as well as from meta-analyses/reviews on the efficacy of antidepressant medications and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and was then categorized into five levels of evidence (CE A-F) and five levels of recommendation grades (RG 1–5). This second part of the WFSBP guidelines on depressive disorders covers the management of the maintenance phase treatment, and is primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including pharmacological and hormonal medications, electroconvulsive therapy and other brain stimulation treatments) of adults and also, albeit to a lesser extent, children, adolescents and older adults.     

The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for the Biological Treatment of Substance Use and Related Disorders. Part 2: Opioid dependence

Abstract

Objectives. To develop evidence-based practice guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of opioid abuse and dependence. Methods. An international task force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) developed these practice guidelines after a systematic review of the available evidence pertaining to the treatment of opioid dependence. On the basis of the evidence, the Task Force reached a consensus on practice recommendations, which are intended to be clinically and scientifically meaningful for physicians who treat adults with opioid dependence. The data used to develop these guidelines were extracted primarily from national treatment guidelines for opioid use disorders, as well as from meta-analyses, reviews, and publications of randomized clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmacological and other biological treatments for these disorders. Publications were identified by searching the MEDLINE database and the Cochrane Library. The literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for efficacy, which was categorized into one of six levels (A–F). Results. There is an excellent evidence base supporting the efficacy of methadone and buprenorphine or the combination of buprenorphine and naloxone for the treatment of opioid withdrawal, with clonidine and lofexidine as secondary or adjunctive medications. Opioid maintenance with methadone and buprenorphine is the best-studied and most effective treatment for opioid dependence, with heroin and naltrexone as second-line medications. Conclusions. There is enough high quality data to formulate evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of opioid abuse and dependence. This task force report provides evidence for the efficacy of a number of medications to treat opioid abuse and dependence, particularly the opioid agonists methadone or buprenorphine. These medications have great relevance for clinical practice.     

Guidelines for biological treatment of substance use and related disorders,part 1: Alcoholism,first revision

These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of alcohol use disorders are an update of the first edition, published in 2008, which was developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). For this 2016 revision, we performed a systematic review (MEDLINE/PUBMED database, Cochrane Library) of all available publications pertaining to the biological treatment of alcoholism and extracted data from national guidelines. The Task Force evaluated the identified literature with respect to the strength of evidence for the efficacy of each medication and subsequently categorised it into six levels of evidence (A–F) and five levels of recommendation (1–5). Thus, the current guidelines provide a clinically and scientifically relevant, evidence-based update of our earlier recommendations. These guidelines are intended for use by clinicians and practitioners who evaluate and treat people with alcohol use disorders and are primarily concerned with the biological treatment of adults with such disorders.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Substance Use and Related Disorders, Part 1: Alcoholism.

These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of substance use disorders were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). The goal during the development of these guidelines was to review systematically all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of substance use disorders, and to reach a consensus on a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by physicians evaluating and treating people with substance use disorders and are primarily concerned with the biological treatment of adults suffering from substance use disorders. The data used to develop these guidelines were extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines for substance use disorders, as well as from meta-analyses, reviews and randomized clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmacological and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and then categorized into four levels of evidence (A-D). This first part of the guidelines covers the treatment of alcohol dependence; Part 2 will be devoted to the treatment of drug dependence.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of schizophrenia, part 2: long-term treatment of schizophrenia.

These guidelines for the biological treatment of schizophrenia were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). The goal during the development of these guidelines was to review systematically all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of schizophrenia, and to reach a consensus on a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating people with schizophrenia. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for schizophrenia, as well as from meta-analyses, reviews and randomised clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmacological and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and then categorised into four levels of evidence (A-D). This second part of the guidelines covers the long-term treatment as well as the management of relevant side effects. These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antipsychotic medication, other pharmacological treatment options, electroconvulsive therapy, adjunctive and novel therapeutic strategies) of adults suffering from schizophrenia.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of personality disorders.

These practical guidelines for the biological treatment of personality disorders in primary care settings were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). They embody the results of a systematic review of all available clinical and scientific evidence pertaining to the biological treatment of three specific personality disorders, namely borderline, schizotypal and anxious/avoidant personality disorder in addition to some general recommendations for the whole field. The guidelines cover disease definition, classification, epidemiology, course and current knowledge on biological underpinnings, and provide a detailed overview on the state of the art of clinical management. They deal primarily with biological treatment (including antidepressants, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers and some further pharmacological agents) and discuss the relative significance of medication within the spectrum of treatment strategies that have been tested for patients with personality disorders, up to now. The recommendations should help the clinician to evaluate the efficacy spectrum of psychotropic drugs and therefore to select the drug best suited to the specific psychopathology of an individual patient diagnosed for a personality disorder.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of schizophrenia, Part 1: acute treatment of schizophrenia.

These guide lines for the biological treatment of schizophrenia were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBO). The goal during the development of these guidelines was to review systematically all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of schizophrenia, and to reach a consensus on a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating people with schizophrenia. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for schizophrenia, as well as from meta-analyses, reviews and randomised clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmacological and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and then categorised into four levels of evidence (A-D). This first part of the guidelines covers disease definition, classification, epidemiology and course of schizophrenia, as well as the management of the acute phase treatment. These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antipsychotic medication, other pharmacological treatment options, electroconvulsive therapy, adjunctive and novel therapeutic strategies) of adults suffering from schizophrenia.     

Pharmacological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders: summary of WFSBP guidelines

Objective: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mood disorder affecting individuals of all ages and is characterised by single or recurrent major depressive episodes. Key elements of acute and maintenance treatment of MDD include pharmacotherapy, and psychological approaches such as psychoeducation and adherence monitoring.

Methods: This summary of the ‘Practice guidelines for the biological treatment of unipolar depressive disorders’ comprises acute, continuation and maintenance treatment developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP), and focuses on pharmacological treatment options.

Results: A variety of different antidepressants are available for the effective acute and prophylactic treatment of depressed patients. Randomised placebo-controlled efficacy studies indicate that all major classes of antidepressants are effective in acute treatment but also in preventing recurrence of depression showing about a two-fold higher relapse rate with placebo treatment. Evidence suggests that the ‘newer’ antidepressants have superior long-term effectiveness due to better tolerability and safety profile compared to traditional antidepressants, e.g., the tricyclic antidepressants (TCA).

Conclusions: Despite progress in the availability of different treatment options there is still a substantial proportion of patients who do not achieve full remission. Several add-on pharmacological treatment options are among the best-evidenced strategies for refractory depressed patients.     

A systematic review of clinical guidelines on choice,dose, and duration of antipsychotics treatment in first- and multi-episode schizophrenia

Abstract

Clinical guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to regulate pharmacological treatment of psychotic disorders. However, the quality of evidence, country of origin, and publication dates of such guidelines vary, which leads to discrepancies between recommendations. This systematic review aimed to examine consensus and disparities between clinical recommendations on the choice, dose, and duration of antipsychotic treatment for first- and multi-episode schizophrenia patients. A literature search through The Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and relevant bibliographies revealed 24 guidelines that met the inclusion criteria. The guidelines indicated mostly consistent recommendations regarding the optimal dose range of antipsychotics, while guidance with regards to the choice and duration of treatment remains somewhat controversial. Current trends in guidelines emphasize that there is simply no ‘one-size-fits-all’ method to manage schizophrenia patients. Further research is needed not only to address discrepancies between guidelines, but also to justify the gap between theory and practice.     

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Schizophrenia Part 3: Update 2015 Management of special circumstances: Depression,Suicidality, substance use disorders and pregnancy and lactation

These updated guidelines are based on the first edition of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of schizophrenia published in the years 2005 and 2006. For this 2015 revision, all available publications pertaining to the biological treatment of schizophrenia were reviewed systematically to allow for an evidence-based update. These guidelines provide evidence-based practice recommendations which are clinically and scientifically relevant. They are intended to be used by all physicians diagnosing and treating patients with schizophrenia. Based on the first version of these guidelines a systematic review, as well as a data extraction from national guidelines have been performed for this update. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and subsequently categorised into six levels of evidence (A–F) and five levels of recommendation (1–5). This third part of the updated guidelines covers the management of the following specific treatment circumstances: comorbid depression, suicidality, various comorbid substance use disorders (legal and illegal drugs), and pregnancy and lactation. These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antipsychotic medication and other pharmacological treatment options) of patients with schizophrenia.     

WFSBP* and IAWMH** Guidelines for the treatment of alcohol use disorders in pregnant women

Objectives: These practice guidelines for the treatment of alcohol use disorders during pregnancy were developed by members of the International Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry and the International Association for Women’s Mental Health.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of all available publications and extracted data from national and international guidelines. The Task Force evaluated the data with respect to the strength of evidence for the efficacy and safety of each medication.

Results and Discussion: There is no safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy. Abstinence is recommended. Ideally, women should stop alcohol use when pregnancy is planned and, in any case, as soon as pregnancy is known. Detecting patterns of alcohol maternal drinking should be systematically conducted at first antenatal visit and throughout pregnancy. Brief interventions are recommended in the case of low or moderate risk of alcohol use. Low doses of benzodiazepines, for the shortest duration, may be used to prevent alcohol withdrawal symptoms when high and chronic alcohol intake is stopped and hospitalisation is recommended. Due to the low level of evidence and/or to low benefit/risk ratio, pharmacological treatment for maintenance of abstinence should not be used during pregnancy. At birth, foetal alcohol spectrum disorders must be searched for, and alcohol metabolites should be measured in meconium of neonates in any doubt of foetal alcohol exposure.     

Treatment of postpartum depression, part 1: a critical review of biological interventions

BACKGROUND: While postpartum depression is a major health issue for many women from diverse cultures, this affective condition often remains undiagnosed and untreated. The objective of this article is to critically review the literature to determine the current state of scientific knowledge related to the treatment of postpartum depression from a biological perspective. METHOD: Databases searched for this review included MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, ProQuest, the Cochrane Library, and the WHO Reproductive Health Library from 1966 to 2003. The search terms used were postpartum/ postnatal depression and randomized controlled/ clinical trials in various combinations. Published peer-reviewed articles in English from 1990 to 2003 were chosen for review, although select earlier studies were also included based on good methodological quality and/or the absence of more recent work. The criteria used to evaluate the interventions were based on the standardized methodology developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. RESULTS: Nine studies that met study criteria were examined. The interventions studied included antidepressant medication, estrogen therapy, critically timed sleep deprivation, and bright light therapy. Although some of these interventions have been better studied for depression unrelated to childbirth, methodological limitations render their efficacy equivocal for postpartum depression with limited strong evidence available to guide practice or policy recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the recent upsurge of interest in this area, many questions remain unanswered, resulting in diverse research implications. In view of the lack of randomized controlled trials, psychiatrists who are experts in the treatment of postpartum mood disorders have developed consensus guidelines. These guidelines will require regular updating as better and stronger evidence emerges.     

The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for the Biological Treatment of Bipolar Disorders, Part II: Treatment of Mania.

Identical to the preceding guidelines of this series, these practice guidelines for the biological, mainly pharmacological treatment of acute bipolar mania were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). Their purpose is to supply a systematic overview of all scientific evidence pertaining to the treatment of acute mania. The data used for these guidelines have been extracted from a MEDLINE and EMBASE search, from recent proceedings of key conferences, and from various national and international treatment guidelines. Their scientific rigor was categorised into four levels of evidence (A-D). As these guidelines are intended for clinical use, the scientific evidence was finally not only graded, but has also been commented by the experts of the task force to ensure practicability. Key words: bipolar disorder, mania, acute treatment, evidence-based guidelines, pharmacotherapy, antipsychotics, mood stabiliser, electroconvulsive therapy.     

Prescribing of the antidepressant duloxetine: Can local clinical audit findings facilitate medicines management decisions?

Introduction. Discussions regarding the inclusion of a new antidepressant within local formulary lists and prescribing guidelines may be facilitated by audits of local prescribing practice, conducted some months after the drug first becomes available for clinical use. Method. Development of five audit standards and retrospective case-note review of prescribing recommendations for the serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor duloxetine, made in five local outpatient clinics. Results. Follow-up data were available for audit in 27 of 43 sets of medical notes. In the majority of patients (84%), the primary diagnosis was recurrent unipolar depressive disorder, the current episode having proven resistant to treatment with two other antidepressants. Where comments were made, notes indicated that 81% of patients that received duloxetine had improved and 94% had tolerated it without reported problems. Conclusions. In this sample, duloxetine prescribing in the first months after it became available appeared to occur within an appropriate patient group. Prospective evaluations in other clinical samples are warranted.