The American Psychiatric Association unveiled updated guidelines for treatment of major depression since on Friday with new recommendations on how to fight the condition.

Among the new recommendations, electro-convulsive or so-called shock therapy is recommended for patients who repeatedly fail to benefit from drug treatment.

"The five-year process of intense review, discussion and thoughtful revision-making has led us to today's release of new guidelines that we believe will improve patient care," said study chairman Alan Gelenberg of Penn State University in Hershey, Pa. in a statement.

"We are hopeful these guidelines will lead to improved lives for many patients."

The committee began work in 2005 when the APA, and many other medical societies, did not forbid guideline authors from serving as consultants to pharmaceutical companies.

"Both the [APA] board and the work group realized that previous policies that emphasized disclosure were not as rigorous as the current climate warranted," according to APA President Dr. Carol Bernstein in a statement.

The study was completed in 2009 but its release was delayed by the APA after it decided to have an independent panel free of industry connections review it.

A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly 10 percent of Americans suffer from depression.