NHS Improvement 2011 guidelines recommend that those diagnosed with significant depression should be offered a course of anti-depressant medication. No recommendations are made about the drug of choice and people should be prescribed medication according to local prescribing protocols and British National Formulary (BNF) recommendations with consideration given to the person’s age and other medications.
Those with mild depression should be offered an opportunity for psychosocial interventions including:
- Increased social interaction
- Increased exercise
- Realistic goal setting
- Information provision
In addition there is increasing evidence for psychological therapies that can be included in standard stroke care having a beneficial effect preventing the development of mood disorder. For example:
- Motivational interviewing
- Motivational Interviewing Early After Acute Stroke (Watkins et al., 2007)
- Problem-solving intervention (Robinson et al., 2008)
- Psychosocial behaviour intervention (Mitchell et al., 2009)
All treatments both pharmacological and non-pharmacological should be monitored for effectiveness and changes made accordingly.
Page last reviewed: 25 Feb 2020
