[Effectiveness of clonazepam in depressive disorders]

Clonazepam was administered to 55 patients with depressive disorder (DSM-III-R) in average minimal and maximal doses of 2.40 and 6.54 mg/day for 21-28 days. Complete remission was achieved in 60% patients (Serejskij AB, drop of global HAMD and FKD score by more than 50%), in particular in case of concurrent anxiety. A marked antidepressive effectiveness of clonazepam was suggested also by a drop of the total HAMD and FKD score already after the first week of treatment. All items of the HAMD and FKD scale were significantly positively influenced with the exception of agitation, somatic anxiety, insight, paranoidity, obsession respectively hypochondriasis and paranoidity. No correlation was found between the effect of clonazepam and sex, the patients' age, duration of the depressive disorder, period of the index episode and severity of depression. As to undesirable effects, the authors recorded fatigue and sleepiness (40%) and hypotension (20% of the patients), in particular at the onset of treatment and after larger daily doses. In 3/10 bipolar patients a switch to hypomania was observed.