Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, and a considerable portion of depressed patients does not respond well to available treatment strategies. Algorithm-based treatment may contribute to improving the MDD outcomes and have the potential to homogenize the pharmacological treatment of MDD patients, facilitating outcome research and cost-effectiveness analysis. This chapter provides a critical review of the available literature on the use of treatment algorithms for the management of MDD. The main available algorithms, their effectiveness, and challenges and limitations associated with their development are discussed. Finally, we provide a discussion of the future direction of algorithm-based treatments for MDD.
Keywords: Algorithms; Antidepressants; Guidelines; Major depressive disorder; Treatment.