title: Colour associations as predictors of the effectiveness of anti-depressant pharmacotherapy in endogenous depressive patients.
abstract: The authors examined the number of associations given for the 8 Lüscher colours by 20 endogenous depressive patients (11 unipolar and 9 bipolar II) before anti-depressant pharmacotherapy and on the 7th, 14th and 21st day of treatment. The depressive patients gave significantly fewer total responses before treatment than the 15 healthy control persons. While the number of associations obtained from the control persons was unchanged at the end of the 1st week, the depressive patients responding to the treatment (responders, n = 15) furnished significantly more responses on the 7th day than before treatment, although there had been no change in the intervening period in the severity of their depression measured by Hamilton depression scale; their clinical state showed a gradual improvement only from the end of the 2nd week. The number of associations obtained from non-responder depressive patients (n = 5) increased only slightly (not significantly). Our preliminary findings suggest that this method could be used to follow changes in the state of depressive patients and to predict their response to anti-depressant pharmacotherapy.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001244:Association; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D003116:Color; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents