Imipramine as treatment for depression in addicts

This report describes the results of a placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial evaluating imipramine hydrochloride, a tricyclic antidepressant, as treatment for depression in methadone-maintained opiate addicts. Forty-six subjects were assigned randomly to either the imipramine or placebo group for up to eight weeks. All patients also received mandatory once weekly group therapy as part of the methadone program. Outcome measures included attrition, depressive symptoms, global improvement, side effects, social functioning, and urine specimen results positive for illicit drugs. The therapeutic response in the two conditions was similar. Addicts receiving either imipramine or placebo experienced a substantial reduction of depressive symptoms during the eight weeks of the study. These findings are compared with other studies that treat depression in addicts and nonaddicts.