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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression
Published on: May 19, 2015
Depressive mood symptoms associated with ovarian suppression
J K Warnock1, J C Bundren, D W Morris
1University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Tulsa, 74135, USA. faye-biggs@ouhsc.edu
Objective:
To determine if sertraline is helpful in the management of depressive symptoms associated with ovarian suppression during GnRH agonist therapy as compared with a placebo-controlled group.
Design:
Double-blind placebo-controlled prospective study design.
Setting:
An obstetrics/gynecological office specializing in infertility in an academic environment.
Patient(S):
Premenstrual women with laparoscopically diagnosed endometriosis who required GnRH agonist therapy for treatment and did not have significant depressive or premenstrual mood symptoms at baseline.
Intervention(S):
Participants were randomly assigned to either the sertraline treatment group or to the placebo group for the 3-month duration of the GnRH agonist therapy.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
The 21-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), which is an instrument designed to assess depressive symptomatology.
Result(S):
A Hotellings T(2) test for repeated measure analysis indicated a statistically significant (P<.05) between-group difference across time for the HRSD (T(2) = 13.3; F[3, 28] = 4.1; P=.02) with the sertraline treatment group manifesting significantly fewer depressive symptoms than the control group.
Conclusion(S):
The results indicate that sertraline is an effective option in the management of depressive mood symptoms associated with ovarian suppression during GnRH agonist therapy.
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