Delirium and the resolution of depression

Two cases are presented in which a long-standing depressive disorder remitted after a protracted delirium associated with the exacerbation of a major medical illness. Although improvement in medical conditions may have contributed to the result, the courses of the affective and medical conditions varied independently before and after the episode of delirium. The prospect of a restitutive function for delirium is further supported by a review of six cases of tricyclic-induced delirium in patients with medical depressive syndromes: the three patients who achieved full resolution of the delirium showed affective improvement.