Korean Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Depressive Disorder(II)

Kang, Rhee Hun; Kim, Soo Young; Lee, Min Soo

Abstract

Depression has been causing huge direct and indirect losses to people's health because of its high prevalence, various clinical patterns, drug reaction and diverse courses different among individuals, but its treatment has not been systematic but dependent on individual clinicians'experience and knowledge. To correct this problem, it has been highly necessary to develop clinical guidelines defined as"systematically developed statements to assist practitioners'and patients'decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific clinical circumstances." Currently, countries throughout the world are making efforts to establish evidence-based guidelines among different levels of guidelines and to evaluate and test them. Although such efforts have been unsatisfactory in Korea because of several constraints including lack of high-quality RCT, the Korean Depression Clinical Practice Guideline has started to develop evidence-based guidelines, which are established through strictly designed processes. Thus, the present study purposed to review methods adopted in the development processes and to present the processes of developing the evidence-based guidelines clearly and transparently.