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Life events and response to antidepressants
Journal of Human Stress
|March 1, 1981
Summary
Life events during treatment, not before, impact antidepressant effectiveness. Patients experiencing stressful, uncontrollable events showed poorer tricyclic antidepressant response.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Unipolar depression is a common mood disorder.
- Tricyclic antidepressants are a common treatment for depression.
- The impact of life events on treatment response is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between life events and response to tricyclic antidepressants.
- To investigate whether antecedent or concurrent life events are more influential.
- To identify characteristics of life events that affect treatment outcomes.
Main Methods:
- 80 outpatients with unipolar depression were enrolled.
- Participants were randomly assigned to receive amitriptyline or amoxapine.
- Life events were assessed in the two or 12 months prior to treatment and during treatment.
Main Results:
- Antecedent life events showed no relationship with antidepressant response.
- Concurrent life events during treatment were significantly related to tricyclic antidepressant response.
- Patients with poorer response reported more concurrent, undesirable, health-related, and uncontrollable life events.
Conclusions:
- Ongoing life stressors during treatment likely interfere with antidepressant efficacy.
- Therapists should monitor and address concurrent life events in depressed patients.
- Understanding the role of life events can optimize depression treatment strategies.