Melancholia with onset during treatment with SSRIs.
A defined group of medical records was surveyed for patients who showed onset of major depression with melancholic features while taking an antidepressant medication. Nine cases resulted. In all the antidepressants being taken while melancholia began were SSRIs and the melancholic depression remitted rapidly with the first treatment given, bupropion in five males, nortriptyline with triiodothyronine in two females, and ECT in one male and one female. This suggests that patients who take SSRIs and are melancholic respond well to bupropion, nortriptyline, or ECT. These observations complement reports of low responsivity of melancholic depression to SSRIs and distinctions between melancholic and nonmelancholic depressions.
Swartz
C M
CM
Department of Psychiatry, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, USA. ectdoc@pol.net
Guadagno
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016642:Bupropion / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009661:Nortriptyline / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome