Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T12:19:43.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Classification of Depression and Response to Antidepressive Therapies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. T. Abou-Saleh  and
A. Coppen
M. T. Abou-Saleh
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Research Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey, U.K.
A. Coppen
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Research Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Two hundred inpatients suffering from primary depressive illness were studied. Seventy eight of the patients were treated by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and 122 patients received antidepressant medication. Response to ECT and antidepressant medication at 4 weeks showed a curvilinear relationship to Newcastle scores. Patients with Newcastle scores in the middle range (4–8) showed significantly higher percentage improvement than those with low (0–3) and high (9–12) scores. Ninety five patients with unipolar depression who received lithium therapy for one year were also studied. Response to lithium showed a linear relationship to Newcastle scores in these patients. It is suggested that these differences in response to antidepressant therapies reflect the heterogeneity of depressive illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 6 , December 1983 , pp. 601 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angst, J. (1961) A clinical analysis of the effects of tofranil in depression. Psychopharmacology, 12, 381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppen, A., Peet, M. & Bailey, J. (1973) Double-blind and open studies of lithium prophylaxis in affective disorders. Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, 76, 501–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Friedman, C., De Mowbray, M. S. & Hamilton, V. (1961) Imipramine (Tofranil) in depressive states. Journal of Mental Science, 107, 948.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glassman, A. H., Kantor, S. J. & Shostak, M. (1975) Depression, delusions and drug response. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 716.Google ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Clinical and Social Psychology, 6, 278–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hordern, A., Burt, C. G. & Holt, N. F. (1965) Depressive States. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.Google ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E. (1976) The classification of depression: A review of contemporary confusion. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 15–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E. & Brockington, I. F. (1980) The identification of disease entities and the relationship between schizophrenic and affective psychoses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 324–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medical Research Council Clinical Psychiatry Committee (1965) Medical Research Council trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal, I, 881–6.Google Scholar
Milln, P. & Coppen, A. (1980) Who responds to amitriptyline? Lancet, i, 763–4.Google Scholar
Mirkin, A. M. & Coppen, A. (1980) Electrodermal activity in depression: clinical and biochemical correlates. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 93–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moradi, S. R., Mumiz, C. E. & Belar, C. D. (1979) Male delusional depressed patients: Response to treatment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 136–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peet, M. & Coppen, A. (1980) Lithium treatment and prophylaxis in unipolar depression. Psychosomatics, 21, 303–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rao, V. A. R. & Coppen, A. (1979) Classification of depression and response to amitriptyline therapy. Psychological Medicine, 9, 321–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, K., Harwood, J., Swade, C. & Coppen, A. (1978) Decreased tryptophan excretion by depressive patients. Clinica, Chimica, Acta, 88, 57–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, K. & Coppen, A. (1981) Platelet alpha-adrenoreceptor sensitivity in depressive illness. Advances in Biological Psychiatry, 7, 85–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.