Related Experiment Videos
Retreatment for relapse following desipramine discontinuation in dysthymia
R A Friedman1, J Mitchell, J H Kocsis
1Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, NY 10021, USA.
Objective:
It is an accepted yet unproven belief that prior favorable response to an antidepressant medication predicts good response to the same antidepressant during a subsequent depressive episode. The authors studied desipramine retreatment for dysthymic patients who had responded to desipramine during acute and continuation treatment and then subsequently relapsed after discontinuation of desipramine.
Method:
The subjects were 12 patients who had pure dysthymia or dysthymia with major depression who relapsed while taking placebo during maintenance treatment. Each patient received open desipramine treatment at a dose equal to or greater than that received during the continuation phase.
Results:
Eleven (91.7%) of the 12 relapsed patients achieved full remission after an average of 4.7 weeks (range = 2-8 weeks, median = 4 weeks) of desipramine retreatment, a significant response rate.
Conclusions:
Positive response to desipramine strongly predicts favorable response to retreatment for depressive relapse following desipramine discontinuation.