Augmentation strategies to increase antidepressant tolerability.

The goal of antidepressant treatment is full remission, but adverse events prevent many patients from reaching and sustaining this goal. Differential diagnosis should be made between antidepressant side effects and adverse events that are related to other causes. Antidepressant side effects may be transient or persistent and may occur early or later in treatment. Pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies can be used to improve the tolerability of antidepressants, resulting in a greater probability of achieving and sustaining remission.