ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the efficacy of antidepressant treatment (sertraline) and group cognitive behavior therapy, alone or in combination, in primary dysthymia. The clinical features of dysthymia, as well as the functional impairments associated with the illness (e.g., quality of life, stress perception, coping styles), were evaluated. METHOD: Patients (N = 97) diagnosed with primary dysthymia, but no other current comorbid disorder, received either sertraline or placebo in a double-blind design over 12 weeks. In addition, a subgroup of the patients (N = 49) received a structured, weekly group cognitive behavior therapy intervention. RESULTS: Treatment with sertraline, with or without group cognitive behavior therapy, reduced the functional impairment of depression. The reductions were similar in the drug-cognitive therapy group and in subjects who received the drug alone. Furthermore, while group cognitive behavior therapy alone reduced the depression scores, this effect was not significantly greater than the effect of the placebo. The drug treatment also induced pronounced improvement in the functional measures, and in some respects these effects were augmented by group cognitive behavior therapy. Among patients who responded favorably to cognitive behavior therapy, the improvements in the functional measures were similar to those who responded to drug treatment, whereas such functional changes were not seen among patients who responded to placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Sertraline treatment effectively reduces the clinical symptoms and functional impairments associated with dysthymia. Although the group cognitive behavior therapy intervention was less effective in alleviating clinical symptoms, it augmented the effects of sertraline with respect to some functional changes, and in a subgroup of patients it attenuated the functional impairments characteristic of dysthymia.
Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use , Cognitive Behavioral Therapy , Dysthymic Disorder/therapy , Psychotherapy, Group , Sertraline/therapeutic use , Adult , Combined Modality Therapy , Double-Blind Method , Dysthymic Disorder/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Placebos , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) in the prediction of response to imipramine in depressed patients. Forty patients with a diagnosis of unipolar depression were subjected to a placebo washout and were assessed at pre-drug, 3 h after their first dose of imipramine, and again 2 weeks into treatment. Following 4 weeks of open imipramine treatment, patients were separated into responder (R) and non-responder (NR) groups. Statistical analysis of the 29 patients who completed the study focused on group comparisons of power spectral estimates in four frequency bands from multi-channel recordings. Results showed that theta power differentiated R and NR groups prior to treatment, in response to an acute test dose, as well as after 2 weeks of active drug treatment. Results based on this exploratory study suggest that QEEG may be a useful early predictor of response to imipramine.
Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic/therapeutic use , Depressive Disorder/drug therapy , Electroencephalography/drug effects , Imipramine/therapeutic use , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic/pharmacology , Depressive Disorder/physiopathology , Electroencephalography/methods , Female , Humans , Imipramine/pharmacology , Male , Middle Aged , Single-Blind Method , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
1. Clinical and empirical evidence point to distorted negative thinking during depressive episodes. 2. The present study, utilizing the Cognitions Questionnaire, examined the thinking styles in depressed inpatients prior to antidepressant pharmacotherapy and again 3-4 weeks after treatment. 3. Across the 5 dimensions of thinking assessed, only generalization across situation changed significantly in the drug-respondent group. 4. While clinically, short-term antidepressant treatment was shown to be efficacious, it only changed cognitions in a limited way.
Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use , Mood Disorders/psychology , Thinking/drug effects , Adult , Clinical Trials as Topic , Cognition/drug effects , Female , Fluoxetine/therapeutic use , Humans , Imipramine/therapeutic use , Male , Mood Disorders/drug therapy , Personality Tests , Trazodone/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Attempts have been made to model certain human psychopathological states in the laboratory, with varying degrees of success. The animal model has emerged as an alternative to clinical studies in psychiatry because it is able to provide greater experimental control and allows the exercise of ethical discretion. Although numerous animal models of depression have been proposed in the literature, most, if not all, fail to mimic human depressive symptomatology; their main function is to act as selective screens for antidepressant drugs. The learned helplessness approach has been suggested as an animal analogue of depression because of its similarities to the human depressive state in terms of provocation, manifestation and treatment. Furthermore, the learned helplessness model, which was originally based on animal experimentation, has been shown to be reproducible in human subjects, a finding not observed with other animal models of depression. Although this model has been much criticized in the past, recent reformulation adds credence to it as a more valid analogue of human depression, given the additional cognitive constructs in depressed human subjects.
Subject(s)
Depressive Disorder , Disease Models, Animal , Helplessness, Learned , Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use , Brain Chemistry , Depressive Disorder/drug therapy , Depressive Disorder/physiopathology , Drug Evaluation, Preclinical/methods , Electroconvulsive Therapy , Electrophysiology , Electroshock , Helplessness, Learned/psychology , Humans , Noise , Norepinephrine/analysis , Object Attachment , RatsSubject(s)
Aggression/drug effects , Neurotransmitter Agents/physiology , Acetylcholine/physiology , Animals , Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology , Antidepressive Agents/pharmacology , Antipsychotic Agents/pharmacology , Brain Chemistry/drug effects , Catecholamines/physiology , Humans , Lithium/pharmacology , Male , Mice , Predatory Behavior/drug effects , Psychotropic Drugs/pharmacology , Rats , Serotonin/physiology , Social Isolation , gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/physiologyABSTRACT
1. Numerous studies have shown the importance of controllability factors in the neurochemical, hormonal and behavioural changes associated with presentation of stress stimuli. 2. Previous work from our laboratory revealed that animals exposed to escapable shock had significantly higher prolactin levels than those treated with inescapable shock. 3. The present experiment examined the time-course of plasma prolactin change as a function of shock controllability. 4. Rats were exposed to intermittent escapable, inescapable or no shock for 5, 10, 30 or 60 min and sacrificed for plasma prolactin determination. Additional groups received 60 min shock condition followed by 30 or 60 min rest period prior to sacrifice. 5. Results showed that subjects exposed to 5, 10 or 30 min of escapable shock exhibited higher prolactin levels than inescapable shock or no-shock treated animals. These findings show that the prolactin response to stress is sensitive to controllability factors and is time-dependent.
Subject(s)
Escape Reaction/physiology , Prolactin/blood , Stress, Physiological/blood , Animals , Electroshock , Male , Rats , Rats, Inbred StrainsABSTRACT
Using an escape delay procedure previously shown to elicit behavioral deficits in mice exposed to uncontrollable shock, rats treated with inescapable but not escapable shock or no shock displayed comparable interference effects when tested in a two-way shuttle box 24 hr later. Treatment with 12.5 mg/kg nortriptyline for 4 or 6 days counteracted the escape deficits produced by inescapable shock while the 0 or 2 day administration regimens were without any appreciable effect. The finding that interference effects produced by inescapable shock were sensitive to sub-acute but not acute drug administration supports the utility of the learned helplessness model in evaluating potential antidepressant agents in experimental animals.
Subject(s)
Avoidance Learning/drug effects , Nortriptyline/pharmacology , Stress, Psychological , Animals , Depression/psychology , Disease Models, Animal , Electroshock , Humans , Male , Rats , Time FactorsABSTRACT
In this study the role of serotonin in pain sensitivity was investigated. Brain serotonin was elevated via low and high doses of precursor tryptophan and lowered via parachlorophenylalanine or lesions placed in the dorsal raphe nucleus. The effects on pain sensitivity were then assessed using two psychophysical pain testing procedures: (1) minimum shock intensity (threshold) which produced a conditioned escape response; and (2) total activity elicited by highly aversive inescapable shock. The results showed that only a large elevation of serotonin produced a change in escape thresholds in the direction of hypoalgesia. When total activity to a painful inescapable stimulus was evaluated only lowering of serotonin produced an effect, and this change was in the direction of hyperalgesia. The conclusion was made that serotonin does contribute to the mechanism of pain.
Subject(s)
Brain/physiology , Pain/physiopathology , Serotonin/physiology , Animals , Avoidance Learning/drug effects , Brain/metabolism , Electroshock , Fenclonine/pharmacology , Male , Raphe Nuclei/physiology , Rats , Serotonin/metabolism , Tryptophan/pharmacologyABSTRACT
The effects of chlorpromazine on the acquisition of a brightness discrimination with food reward were examined. Doses of 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg of CPZ as well as saline were administered intraperitoneally to 4 groups of 7 Sprague-Dawley rats, 1 h prior to testing. After a 3-week period of habituation and pre-training, rats were tested 20 trials a day, 7 days a week. No drug effect was found on the number of trials to reach a criterion of 18/20 successive correct responses, which required an average of 6.2 days of training. Precriterion latencies, however, showed an increase as a function of increasing dose level. Post-choice latencies were not affected, eliminating motor retardation as an explanation for the latency effect.