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Depression guideline registry¶
Periodic-sweep checkpoint: 2026-10-29. The named rechecks below refresh selected bodies; other records retain their earlier verification dates.
Master table¶
| Body | Year | Region | Scope | Citation/URL | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CANMAT | 2023 update; published 2024 | Canada | adult MDD, full management | Lam et al., PMID 38711351 | current |
| VA/DoD | 2022 | United States | adult MDD across VA/DoD | McQuaid et al., PMID 36122380 | current |
| American College of Physicians | 2023 living | United States | acute nonpharmacologic/pharmacologic treatment | Qaseem et al., PMID 36689752 | current/live |
| NICE | 2022 | United Kingdom | depression in adults: treatment and management | https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222, accessed 2026-08-30 | current |
| WFSBP + ASLM | 2022/23 | International/Australasia | lifestyle-based mental health care | Marx et al., PMID 36202135 | current |
| CANMAT ketamine task force | 2021 | Canada | IV racemic ketamine | Swainson et al., PMID 33174760 | current specialty guidance |
| US consensus rTMS group | 2018 | United States | clinical rTMS delivery | McClintock et al., PMID 28541649 | current specialty consensus; check local standards |
| CANMAT | 2016 | Canada | adult MDD pharmacology | Kennedy et al., PMID 27486148 | superseded by → CANMAT 2023 update |
| American Psychiatric Association | 2010 | United States | adult MDD | https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/clinical-practice-guidelines, accessed 2026-08-30 | legacy; officially listed under Legacy Practice Guidelines |
| American Psychological Association | 2019 | United States | depression across three age cohorts | https://www.apa.org/depression-guideline, accessed 2026-08-30 | current; update panel appointed in 2025 |
| RANZCP | 2020 | Australia/New Zealand | mood disorders; major-depression summary | Malhi et al., PMID 33353391; summary PMID 33320412 | current |
| German NVL/S3 | 2022; synopsis 2023 | Germany | diagnosis and treatment of unipolar depression | Härter et al., PMID 37070271 | current |
| AFPBN/FondaMental | 2024 update; published 2025 | France | partial response and TRD | Yrondi et al., PMID 38369426 | current specialty guidance |
| Korean Medication Algorithm Project | 2025 fifth revision | South Korea | medication sequencing for depressive disorder | Kim et al., PMID 41139602 | current |
| British Association for Psychopharmacology | 2015 | United Kingdom | antidepressant treatment | Cleare et al., PMID 25969470 | legacy/current pending replacement check |
| WFSBP | summary 2017 | International | pharmacologic treatment of unipolar depressive disorders | Bauer et al., PMID 28367707 | legacy synthesis |
| Japanese Society of Mood Disorders | 2012 | Japan | MDD treatment | Ogasawara, PMID 23037606 | legacy; Japanese-language review |
| USPSTF | 2023 | United States | adult depression and suicide-risk screening | USPSTF, PMID 37338872 | current preventive-services recommendation |
| International tDCS expert group | 2021 | International | evidence-based tDCS indications | Fregni et al., PMID 32710772 | specialty guideline |
Per-guideline notes¶
CANMAT 2023¶
Uses treatment lines, systematic reassessment, patient-partner input, and integrates newer pharmacologic and neuromodulation evidence. Published as Lam et al. 2024 (PMID 38711351).
VA/DoD 2022¶
Emphasizes measurement-based stepped care, collaborative care, evidence-based psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, and escalation according to severity/response (PMID 36122380).
ACP 2023 living guideline¶
Recommends CBT or a second-generation antidepressant as initial monotherapy for moderate-to-severe MDD, using shared decision-making; addresses switch/augmentation after nonresponse (PMID 36689752).
NICE NG222¶
Uses less-severe/more-severe categories, offers a menu of psychological, medication, and combination options, and emphasizes informed preference. Official page returned HTTP 200 when fetched live on 2026-08-30.
WFSBP/ASLM lifestyle guideline¶
Provides explicit recommendations for physical activity, diet, sleep, smoking, and social connection as components of MDD care (PMID 36202135).
RANZCP 2020¶
The full mood-disorders guideline and its major-depression summary use an “actions” model rather than a simple drug ranking and integrate formulation, lifestyle, psychological, pharmacologic, and device treatments (PMID 33353391; PMID 33320412).
German NVL/S3¶
The multidisciplinary national guideline emphasizes shared decision-making and stepped evidence-based psychotherapy/pharmacotherapy within the German care system. Its publication is a synopsis; implementers should use the full German guideline for exact grades (PMID 37070271).
AFPBN/FondaMental 2024 TRD update¶
French expert guidance focuses specifically on partial response and treatment resistance, making it more detailed on sequencing and augmentation than general first-line guidelines but also more dependent on expert consensus where direct comparisons are absent (PMID 38369426).
Korean Medication Algorithm 2025¶
The fifth revision provides a current Asian medication-sequencing perspective. Algorithm recommendations reflect Korean availability and expert consensus and should not be treated as a universal comparative-effectiveness ranking (PMID 41139602).
BAP 2015 and WFSBP pharmacology¶
Both are useful legacy pharmacology syntheses, but they predate esketamine, dextromethorphan–bupropion, recent accelerated TMS, and newer withdrawal evidence (PMID 25969470; PMID 28367707). Their continued citation should be labeled as historical when a newer guideline addresses the same decision.
USPSTF 2023 screening¶
The recommendation concerns screening asymptomatic adults and presupposes systems for diagnostic evaluation and treatment; it is not a recommendation to diagnose MDD from a questionnaire score (PMID 37338872).
The two US organizations abbreviated APA¶
The American Psychiatric Association's official guideline page, fetched on 2026-08-30, lists its 2010 MDD guideline under Legacy Practice Guidelines and does not list a replacement MDD document under Current Guidelines. The American Psychological Association separately maintains its 2019 depression guideline across children/adolescents, adults, and older adults; its official page states that a multidisciplinary update panel was appointed in 2025. The dated evidence gap is therefore a current American Psychiatric Association MDD replacement, not uncertainty about the 2010 document's status.
Disagreements and gaps¶
| Issue | Divergence/gap |
|---|---|
| First-line medication by severity | thresholds and strength differ |
| Initial combination | efficacy advantage vs burden/resources |
| Ketamine/esketamine | different line positions and availability |
| TMS | varying timing and coverage assumptions |
| Withdrawal | taper detail and recognition vary |
| Long-term care | sparse evidence for optimal duration after recurrent episodes |
| Global representation | registry is weighted toward high-income English-language guidance |
| Screening | USPSTF addresses population screening; treatment guidelines begin after clinical assessment |
| Lifestyle care | some bodies integrate it as a core action; others treat it as adjunctive or give little operational detail |
| TRD algorithms | French/Korean sequencing specificity exceeds the direct head-to-head evidence base |
| Legacy pharmacology | BAP/WFSBP documents remain useful but omit multiple post-2015 treatments |
2026-10-15 surveillance checkpoint¶
- NICE NG222: the official overview reports a last review on 2026-01-30 and a decision not to update recommendations. This is surveillance information, not a newly issued guideline in the sweep window. (NICE — “Depression in adults: treatment and management”, https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222, accessed 2026-10-15.)
- CANMAT: the current resource page continues to list the 2023 MDD update. A new exercise commentary is catalogued separately as a critique, not an endorsed update (Gierc 2026, PMID 42411994). (CANMAT — “Major Depressive Disorder”, https://www.canmat.org/2025/04/29/major-depressive-disorder-guidelines-related-resources/, accessed 2026-10-15.)
- American Psychological Association: the official page still describes the 2019 guideline and a panel appointed in 2025; its visible page-update date is June 2025. The search-engine wording that the panel had already “updated” the guideline was not used as evidence of a replacement. (APA — “Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Depression Across Three Age Cohorts”, https://www.apa.org/depression-guideline, accessed 2026-10-15.)
- American Psychiatric Association and VA/DoD: their official listings were retrieved; the former continues to list MDD under legacy guidance and the latter presents its MDD guideline resources. No new MDD replacement was identified in these particular listings. (American Psychiatric Association — “Clinical Practice Guidelines”, https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/clinical-practice-guidelines; VA/DoD — “Management of Major Depressive Disorder”, https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/MH/mdd/, both accessed 2026-10-15.)
PubMed and Europe PMC also returned narrative recommendations and expert-panel reports. These were not relabeled as society-issued guidelines. The 2026 Cochrane exercise update is a systematic review, not a guideline; it was recovered as earlier catch-up evidence and catalogued with its full-text access limitation in the bibliography.
2026-10-22 surveillance checkpoint¶
- NICE NG222: the overview still says "Last reviewed: 30 January 2026" and "We reviewed this guideline and will not update the recommendations." (NICE — “Depression in adults: treatment and management”, https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222, accessed 2026-10-22.)
- CANMAT: the resource page still leads with the 2023 Depression Guidelines. No newer MDD edition was listed. (CANMAT — “Major Depressive Disorder”, https://www.canmat.org/2025/04/29/major-depressive-disorder-guidelines-related-resources/, accessed 2026-10-22.)
- American Psychological Association:
https://www.apa.org/depression-guidelinereturned an Incapsula “Request unsuccessful” page. The 2019 guideline and 2025 update-panel description were not re-read on this date. - American Psychiatric Association: the practice-guideline listing still places “Major Depressive Disorder Practice Guideline (2010)” under Legacy Practice Guidelines. No replacement MDD guideline was identified on that page. (American Psychiatric Association — “Clinical Practice Guidelines”, https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/clinical-practice-guidelines, accessed 2026-10-22.)
- VA/DoD: the MDD page still presents the 2022 guideline, full text, summary, and pocket card. (VA/DoD — “Management of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (2022)”, https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/MH/mdd/, accessed 2026-10-22.)
No in-window PubMed record with publication type Practice Guideline was added. Topic-specific Cochrane searches for this window returned no Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews hits. The broader depression CDSR search returned three reviews, on sexual-harassment education, lumbar supports, and exercise after spinal cord injury. None is an MDD treatment guideline.
2026-10-29 surveillance checkpoint¶
- NICE NG222: the page still says "Last reviewed: 30 January 2026" and "We reviewed this guideline and will not update the recommendations." (NICE — “Depression in adults: treatment and management”, https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222, accessed 2026-10-29.)
- CANMAT: the resource page still leads with the 2023 Depression Guidelines. (CANMAT — “Major Depressive Disorder”, https://www.canmat.org/2025/04/29/major-depressive-disorder-guidelines-related-resources/, accessed 2026-10-29.)
- American Psychological Association:
https://www.apa.org/depression-guidelineagain returned a 212-byte block page instead of the guideline. Not re-verified. - American Psychiatric Association: the listing still places “Major Depressive Disorder Practice Guideline (2010)” among legacy guidelines. (American Psychiatric Association — “Clinical Practice Guidelines”, https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/clinical-practice-guidelines, accessed 2026-10-29.)
- VA/DoD: the page still presents the 2022 MDD guideline. (VA/DoD — “Management of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (2022)”, https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/MH/mdd/, accessed 2026-10-29.)
The PubMed guideline query, publication dates 2026-08-28 to 2026-10-29, returned three records not seen in earlier sweeps. Two are reference-book chapters (PMID 28520380; PMID 30725910). The third is a five-member expert consensus panel on adjunctive atypical antipsychotics, built from two network meta-analyses (Cutler 2026, PMID 42925114). It is not a society guideline and endorses no agent, so it was not catalogued. Every topic-specific Cochrane search in the window returned 0.
Watch list¶
- American Psychiatric Association adult MDD replacement; the 2010 document remained officially labeled legacy on 2026-10-29.
- American Psychological Association 2019 guideline update-panel outputs.
- NICE surveillance/update notices for NG222.
- CANMAT updates for psychedelics, accelerated TMS, and new neurosteroids.
- WHO mhGAP updates relevant to depression in low-resource settings.
- Regulatory and guideline response to phase 3 psychedelic programs.