During medication consultation, patients or their family members often ask: “I’ve been taking antidepressants for more than three months, and I feel completely normal in all aspects of my mood, and I’m doing well at work and in life. The answer is that you can’t just stop taking the medication. Because depression is different from the flu, you can’t stop the medication when you feel better like the flu, but depression needs a full course of treatment. First of all: the dose of antidepressant drugs should reach the effective therapeutic dose range in order to give full play to the antidepressant effect, the drug dose is too low or too large is not desirable. Secondly, the whole course of depression treatment can be divided into: ① acute treatment requires 6-8 weeks; ② consolidation treatment, after the symptoms are relieved, at least 4-6 months of consolidation treatment is needed to prevent recurrence of the disease; ③ maintenance treatment, used to prevent relapse. Those with genetic family history, with psychotic symptoms, suicide risk, and residual symptoms should be maintained for at least 2 to 3 years. The maintenance period is longer for chronic depression. Once again, it is important not to stop the medication abruptly when you feel your symptoms are improving, as abrupt discontinuation can lead to withdrawal reactions (mainly cholinergic hyperactivity or rebound). Most of the symptoms appear 12 to 48 hours after the last dose and can last up to 2 weeks. If the symptoms are severe, the drug reduction should be suspended.) If the drug is discontinued, it is advisable to gradually reduce the dosage within 1 to 2 months. The course and recurrence of depression: about half or more of the first depression will be followed by another recurrence in the next 5 years. Before the advent of antidepressants, this figure was as high as 75-80%. One-third of patients even relapse in the first year. Untreated depressive episodes typically last 6 to 13 months, and less than 20% of patients have a single episode lasting more than 2 years (not including poor mood). This duration can be reduced to about 3 months with medication, and the earlier treatment is started the more significant the reduction in duration. Because of this, almost all patients who have been on antidepressant treatment for less than 3 months may experience a relapse of depressive symptoms. This is not actually another episode, but a relapse of the current one. Six months after recovery from depression, 20% of patients may relapse, and 50% to 85% of depressed patients have at least one relapse in their lifetime, with the timing of relapse inconsistent per person, usually within 2 to 3 years. The risk of relapse increases by 16% for each additional episode. As the number of depressive episodes increases and the duration of the illness lengthens, depressive episodes become more frequent, and the duration of the episodes becomes longer. In addition, the suicide rate of depression is about 10-15%, with the highest rate in the 5 years after the first episode. Therefore, early detection and early treatment are of great importance. About 5-10% of patients with first depression may later change their diagnosis to bipolar disorder. Recurrent episodes of depression can cause chronic depressive disabling symptoms to worsen or become refractory, with shorter periods of remission, decreased quality of life and increased functional disability. The risk factors for recurrence of depression are broadly: some residual depressive symptoms or still negative thinking after the end of the acute phase of treatment; dual depression; a probability of relapse of about 90% for patients who have had a relapse, especially for those with 3 depressive episodes; patients who continue to live in a stressful environment after remission of depressive symptoms or are very dissatisfied with their current life situation. Therefore, the prognosis of depressive disorders is by no means good, and prophylactic application of antidepressants is key to improving the prognosis.