The effect of diazepam on the recovery of endogenously depressed patients

Forty endogenously depressed patients given standard antidepressants and/or electroconvulsive therapy in a general hospital psychiatric ward were assessed using the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The patients were then randomly assigned to two groups: Under double-blind conditions, one group received in addition 20 mg diazepam per day and the other, identical placebos. No additional benzodiazepines were prescribed during the study. Standard therapy with tricyclic antidepressants or electric shock was determined by the patients' own psychiatrists. The assessments were repeated after ten days of diazepam or placebo treatment. Fourteen patients (seven in each group) also completed the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Results of the Beck Depression Inventory indicated that the addition of diazepam retarded the improvement of the patients receiving only tricyclic antidepressants but had no effect on the recovery of patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy.