Gold Versus Silver: The Issue of Functional Versus Symptomatic Recovery in Depression

Letter to the Editor

Sir: The BRAINSTORMS article in the April 1999 issue of theJournal by Dr. Stahl emphasizes an important yet frequentlyneglected aspect of clinical psychiatry, i.e., undertreatment ofmood disorders. Like most of his articles, this is a no-nonsensepiece highlighting the psychopharmacologic angle, especiallyfrom a clinician’s viewpoint. However, the following points areto be considered while appreciating his arguments:
First, the term recovery may be divided into at least 2 categories,i.e., symptomatic and functional.