Safety of pharmacotherapy in the acute phase of depression Chinese Journal of Psychiatry 2013-10-21 Acute phase treatment of depression is generally the period of time, such as 1-3 months, required for patients to start antidepressant treatment until their symptoms resolve. Acute phase treatment and consolidation and maintenance treatment are a whole and cannot be separated clinically. The concept of acute phase treatment may be proposed mainly because the depressive symptoms are more severe in this phase, and the rapid control of symptoms and safe medication use need special attention during the treatment. In this stage of the drug titration process, safety issues such as adverse reactions at the beginning of drug administration are more prominent, and acute phase treatment has an important significance on the prognosis of patients. Overall, the main goal of acute phase treatment is to rapidly alleviate depressive symptoms and reduce the risk of self-inflicted suicide in patients.