title: The effect of alexithymic features on response to antidepressant medication in patients with major depression.
abstract: There has been no follow-up study regarding the effect of alexithymic features on antidepressant treatment. This study was planned to observe whether alexithymia effects short-term treatment outcome in depression. The study included 32 alexithymic and 33 nonalexithymic outpatients with major depression. Depression was assessed on the basis of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). Level of depression was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Alexithymia was screened using the Turkish version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). All patients received 20 mg/d paroxetine for 10 weeks. Alexithymic and nonalexithymic patients were compared on the HAM-D scores, TAS-20 scores, and rate of response to antidepressant medication. The rate of responders, defined by a reduction of >50% from baseline in HAM-D total score, was 21.9% in the alexithymic group and 54.5% in the nonalexithymic group. Changes in the HAM-D scores were significantly correlated with the TAS-20 scores. TAS-20 scores dropped below 61 in only 31.2% of the alexithymic patients, and 68.8% of patients remained alexithymic. Whereas 50% of patients whose TAS-20 scores dropped below 61 responded to antidepressant medication, this rate was only 9.1% among patients who remained alexithymic. These findings indicated that the stability of alexithymic features had a negative effect on antidepressant treatment in depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gulhane School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aytekin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozsahin
authors.forename: Ozcan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uzun
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cansever
authors.forename: Zeynep
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gulcat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017374:Paroxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D017374:Paroxetine