{"id":569688,"date":"2026-10-04T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/when-is-it-appropriate-to-refer-a-patient-to-a-specialist\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:49:17","slug":"when-is-it-appropriate-to-refer-a-patient-to-a-specialist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/when-is-it-appropriate-to-refer-a-patient-to-a-specialist\/","title":{"rendered":"When is it appropriate to refer a patient to a specialist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>If patients diagnosed with unipolar depression do not show an adequate response after approximately six weeks of treatment with an antidepressant, a referral to private-practice psychiatrists or specialized outpatient treatment centers should be arranged. Other reasons for referral include severe depressive disorders, acute suicidal ideation, danger to others, and psychotic symptoms. It may also be advisable to consult specialists if bipolar disorder is suspected, if there are complex comorbidities, or if there is uncertainty regarding the distinction from organic causes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">Dieser Inhalt ist nur f\u00fcr Benutzer der Gruppe: Medizinische Fachperson zug\u00e4nglich <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/my-account\/packages\/\">Jetzt beitreten<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/log-in\/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmedizinonline.com%2Fen%2Fwhen-is-it-appropriate-to-refer-a-patient-to-a-specialist%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If patients diagnosed with unipolar depression do not show an adequate response after approximately six weeks of treatment with an antidepressant, a referral to private-practice psychiatrists or specialized outpatient treatment&#8230;&hellip;... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">Dieser Inhalt ist nur f\u00fcr Benutzer der Gruppe: Medizinische Fachperson zug\u00e4nglich <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/my-account\/packages\/\">Jetzt beitreten<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/log-in\/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmedizinonline.com%2Fen%2Fwhen-is-it-appropriate-to-refer-a-patient-to-a-specialist%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":569689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","cat_1_feature_home_top":false,"cat_2_editor_pick":false,"csco_eyebrow_text":"Acute Treatment of Depressive Episodes in Primary Care Practices  ","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"category":[11548,11513,11297,11442,11466,11503],"tags":[17932,68431,14999,23009,21962,22594,55459,34001,23006,102753,102751,30450,23474,13545,64142,102752,39072],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":["post-569688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rx-en","category-congress-reports","category-general-internal-medicine","category-pharmacology-and-toxicology","category-psychiatry-and-psychotherapy","category-studies","tag-antidepressants","tag-bupropion-en","tag-depression-en","tag-esketamine","tag-hypericum-en","tag-ketamine","tag-lithium-en","tag-mirtazapine","tag-nasal-spray","tag-quetiapine","tag-serotonin-receptor-agonist","tag-sgad-en","tag-ssri-en","tag-trazodone-en","tag-treatment-recommendations","tag-unipolar-depressive-episode","tag-vortioxetine","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-1","pmpro-no-access"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-20 04:46:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"wpml_current_locale":"en_US","wpml_translations":{"fr_FR":{"locale":"fr_FR","id":569691,"slug":"dans-quels-cas-est-il-judicieux-dorienter-un-patient-vers-des-specialistes","post_title":"Dans quels cas est-il judicieux d'orienter un patient vers des sp\u00e9cialistes ?","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/fr\/dans-quels-cas-est-il-judicieux-dorienter-un-patient-vers-des-specialistes\/"},"it_IT":{"locale":"it_IT","id":569695,"slug":"in-quali-casi-e-opportuno-il-rinvio-a-uno-specialista","post_title":"In quali casi \u00e8 opportuno il rinvio a uno specialista?","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/it\/in-quali-casi-e-opportuno-il-rinvio-a-uno-specialista\/"},"pt_PT":{"locale":"pt_PT","id":569701,"slug":"em-que-situacoes-e-aconselhavel-o-encaminhamento-para-especialistas","post_title":"Em que situa\u00e7\u00f5es \u00e9 aconselh\u00e1vel o encaminhamento para especialistas?","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/pt-pt\/em-que-situacoes-e-aconselhavel-o-encaminhamento-para-especialistas\/"},"es_ES":{"locale":"es_ES","id":569707,"slug":"en-que-casos-es-recomendable-derivar-al-paciente-a-un-especialista","post_title":"\u00bfEn qu\u00e9 casos es recomendable derivar al paciente a un especialista?","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/es\/en-que-casos-es-recomendable-derivar-al-paciente-a-un-especialista\/"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569690,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569688\/revisions\/569690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=569688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569688"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=569688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}