A double-blind comparison of flupenthixol, nortriptyline and diazepam in neurotic depression

A double-blind trial of flupenthixol, nortriptyline and diazepam in neurotic depression using flexible dose schedules suggested that each drug is an efficient treatment for this category of depression although the patterns of response and prevalence of side-effects varied. No differences reaching a level of significance could be shown on rating scales of depression or anxiety, but trends favoured flupenthixol. However, clinical evaluation suggested flupenthixol to be more effective than diazepam on mental state examination (P less than 0.05) and to have a greater overall therapeutic effect than nortriptyline (P less than 0.05). It also had fewer side-effects than nortriptyline (P less than 0.05).