The STAR-D trial examined the question
of improvement and showed that for patients who tolerated
an initial antidepressant trial, there was no clear distinction for
augmentation versus switching strategies. Nevertheless, a further
interpretation of the data suggest that those who complete an
initial treatment trial of at least 12 weeks and had at least a partial
response and improvement of mild depressive symptoms, but
continued to have residual symptoms would be more likely to
benefit more from augmentation relative to switching (Gaynes et
al., 2012).