3.2) Short prognosis Given the high prevalence of delirium in patients near the end of life, clinicians should first consider whether there is an or ganic cause for agitation and distress. Agitation should be ate symptomatically and benzodiazepines or neuroleptics prescribed if indicated. Some clinicians report benefit from lants for depression in patients with short life expectancy. However, we do not recommend the use of psychostimulants due to there being strong evidence of adverse effects and inadequate evidence of efficacy as For patients with short prognosis, the threshold for treatment resistant depression should be lowered from 6 weeks to 4 weeks.