Serlin 50 Dosage/Direction for Use

Initial Treatment: Depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder: 50 mg once daily.
Panic Disorder, PTSD, social phobia: Treatment should be initiated with 25 mg once daily. After one week, the dose should be increased to 50 mg once daily.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): Treatment should be initiated with 50 mg once daily, either daily throughout the menstrual cycle or limited to the luteal phase of menstrual cycle, depending on physician assessment.
Titration: Depression, OCD, Panic Disorder and PTSD: Patients not responding to a 50 mg dose may benefit from dose increases. Dose changes should be made at intervals of at least one week, up to a maximum of 200 mg/day. Changes in dose should not be made more frequently than once per week given the 24-hour elimination half life of sertraline. The onset of therapeutic effect may be seen within 7 days. However, longer periods are usually necessary to demonstrate therapeutic response, especially in OCD.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): Patients not responding to a 50 mg dose may benefit from dose increases (at 50 mg increments/menstrual cycle) up to 150 mg/day when dosing daily throughout the menstrual cycle, or 100 mg/day when dosing during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. If a 100 mg/day dose has been established with luteal phase dosing, a 50 mg/day titration step for three days should be utilized at the beginning of each luteal phase dosing period.
Maintenance: Dosage during long-term therapy should be kept at the lowest effective level, with subsequent adjustment depending on therapeutic response.
Use in children: The safety and efficacy of sertraline has been established in pediatric OCD patients aged 6 to 17. The administration of sertraline to pediatric OCD patients (aged 13-17) should commence at 50 mg/day. Therapy for pediatric OCD patients (aged 6-12) should commence at 25 mg/day increasing to 50 mg/day after one week. Subsequent doses may be increased in case of lack of response in 50 mg/day increments, up to 200 mg/day, as needed. In a clinical trial in patients aged 6 to 17 years with depression or OCD, sertraline appeared to have a similar pharmacokinetic profile to that found in adults. However, the generally lower body weights of children compared to those of adults should be taken into consideration when increasing the dose from 50 mg.
Use in elderly: No special precautions are needed. The usual adult dose is recommended.