Urinary monoamines and monoamine metabolites in subtypes of unipolar depressive disorder and normal controls

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec Roy ◽  
David Pickar ◽  
Patrice Douillet ◽  
Farouk Karoum ◽  
Markku Linnoila
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Dysthymic Disorder ◽  
Monoamine Metabolites ◽  
Urinary Catecholamine ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Sympathetic Nervous ◽  
Normal Controls ◽  
Lower Urinary

SynopsisAn examination was made of urinary catecholamine and metabolite outputs in 28 unipolar depressed patients and 25 normal controls. The total group of depressed patients had significantly higher urinary outputs of norepinephrine (NE) and its metabolite normetanephrine (NM), and significantly lower urinary outputs of the dopamine metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), than controls. Patients who met DSM-III criteria for a major depressive episode with melancholia (N = 8) had significantly higher urinary outputs of normetanephrine than controls, whereas patients with a major depressive episode without melancholia (N = 7) and dysthymic disorder patients (N = 8) had levels comparable with controls. We postulate that the higher urinary outputs of norepinephrine and its metabolite, normetanephrine, reflect dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system in depression.

Responses to depression in unipolar depressed patients: an investigation of Nolen-Hoeksema's response styles theory

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1323-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE KUEHNER ◽  
IRIS WEBER
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Response Styles ◽  
Post Discharge ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Response Styles Theory

Background. The response styles theory suggests that rumination in response to depressed mood exacerbates and prolongs depression, while distraction ameliorates and shortens it. Gender differences in response styles are said to contribute to the observed gender differences in the prevalence of unipolar depression. While empirical support for the theory has been found from a variety of non-clinical studies, its generalizability to clinically depressed patient populations remains unclear.Methods. A cohort of 52 unipolar depressed in-patients was assessed with the Response Styles Questionnaire during in-patient stay (T1) and 4 weeks after discharge (T2). The patients were followed up 4 months after discharge (T3). Clinical assessment included the SCAN-PSE-10.Results. Moderate and statistically significant retest-stabilities for rumination and distraction were found, comparable for patients with stable and changing depression status from T1 to T2. A cross-sectional diagnosis of a major depressive episode was associated with rumination, while gender was not. Post-discharge baseline rumination (T2), adjusted for concurrent depression, predicted follow-up levels of depression (T3), and, in patients who were non-remitted at post-discharge baseline, it predicted presence of a major depressive episode at follow-up (T3). Results on distraction were more ambiguous.Conclusions. Our results suggest that rumination is likely to have a deteriorating impact on the course of clinical episodes of depression in unipolar depressed patients. Larger longitudinal patient studies are needed to validate these findings.

Long-Term Administration of Tianeptine in Depressed Patients after Alcohol Withdrawal

1992 ◽  
Vol 160 (S15) ◽  
pp. 66-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Malka ◽  
H. Lôo ◽  
H. Ganry ◽  
A. Souche ◽  
C. Marey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Alcohol Withdrawal ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Multicentre Trial ◽  
Dysthymic Disorder ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Term Administration ◽  
Neurochemical Effect

Alcohol interferes with the central metabolism of the catecholamines and especially with indolamines (5-HT). Thus, the use of an antidepressant such as tianeptine, whose main neurochemical effect is to increase the reuptake of 5-HT, seems to be particularly indicated for the continued treatment of depressed patients after alcohol withdrawal. This study evaluated the therapeutic efficacy and acceptability during long-term administration of tianeptine in depressed patients (major depressive episode or dysthymic disorder) in a multicentre trial, after withdrawal from alcohol abuse or dependence. The results relate to 130 depressed patients, who abstained from alcohol and received treatment for a year. Only one patient dropped-out because of side-effects, and medication was interrupted in 5% of subjects because of alcoholic relapses. Prescribed in the long term, tianeptine did not produce orthostatic hypotension, changes in bodyweight, or alterations in the ECG. All changes found in haematological and biochemical investigations suggested an improvement in patients' physical state. This, and other studies, indicate that tianeptine appears to have the potential to be a safe antidepressant, which might be particularly useful in those patients who are susceptible to the side-effects of psychotropic drugs.

Zopiclone in the treatment of insomnia in depressed patients

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (S3) ◽  
pp. 167s-172s
Author(s):  
M Van Moffaert ◽  
C Pilate
Keyword(s):  
Early Treatment ◽  
Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Comparative Trial ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Efficacy Profile

SummaryDuring the early treatment of a major depressive episode with amitryptiline, insomnia was treated in 81 patients in a double-blind comparative trial comparing zopiclone and flunitrazepam. The study showed no major differences in the efficacy profile and showed better tolerability for zopiclone than for flunitrazepam.

A Case–Control Study of Social Risk Factors for Depression in American Patients

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec Roy
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Risk Factors ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normal Controls ◽  
Control Study

Objective To describe the social risk factors for depression and their interaction with recent life events in depressed American patients. Methods Forty patients with a major depressive episode were compared with 40 normal controls. Risk factors for depression were assessed, recent life events recorded, and their interaction examined. Results Significantly more depressed patients than controls had a poor marriage before the onset of depression and were unemployed. The depressed patients had also recently experienced significantly more life events. The only significant interaction was that employed depressed patients had experienced more recent life events than unemployed depressed patients. Conclusion In addition to recent life events, having a poor marriage and being unemployed may be social risk factors for depression in American patients.

Circadian variations in response to protirelin test in major depressive episode

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Duval ◽  
MC Mokrani ◽  
MA Crocq ◽  
S Rosenberg ◽  
J Oliveira Castro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Major Depression ◽  
Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Circadian Variations ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Thyroid Axis ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Drug Free ◽  
Trh Receptors

SummaryWe studied circadian thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) response to synthetic thyrotropin-releasing-hormone (protirelin) infusion (200μg IV) at 8 am and 11 pm in 35 drug-free inpatients with DSM III-R Major Depressive Episode and in 22 hospitalized controls. In each group, maximum TSH and PRL responses were lower at 8 am than at 11 pm. The difference between 11 pm-ΔTSH and 8 am-ΔJTSH (ΔΔTSH) was significantly lower in depressed patients compared to controls. No such blunting was observed in PRL responses to protirelin in depressed patients. In the overall population, TSH response to protirelin (ie8 am-ΔTSH, 11 pm-ΔTSH, ΔΔTSH) correlated significantly with TSH circadian parameters (ie mesor and amplitude). These correlations were also observed with PRL (except for ΔΔPRL). TSH mesor and amplitude were lower in depressives than in controls. In contrast, PRL mesor and amplitude were not significantly different between diagnostic groups. ΔΔTSH is thus a chronobiological refinement to the measure of thyroid axis dysfunction in major depression. The blunted TSH response to protirelin suggests that the TRH receptors of the pituitary thyrotrophs are hyposensitive in major depression.

Platelet counts in depressed patients treated with amitriptyline or paroxetine

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Lederbogen ◽  
E. Hörer ◽  
R. Hellweg ◽  
I. Heuser ◽  
M. Deuschle
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive Episode ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Thromboembolic Risk ◽  
Platelet Counts ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Standardized Treatment ◽  
Dsm Iv

AbstractObjectiveTo assess whether therapy with two widely used antidepressants influences platelet counts.Subjects and methodsIn 90 patients hospitalized for treatment of a major depressive episode according to DSM-IV, platelet counts were performed after a 6 d antidepressant-free run-in period and again after 35 d of active standardized treatment with amitriptyline (n = 40) or paroxetine (n = 50).ResultsThere was a trend for platelet counts to increase during treatment with amitriptyline (from 245.5 ± 68.6 to 256.8 ± 69 cells × 109 L-1, P < 0.06); no change was observed during treatment with paroxetine (from 232.6 ± 58.3 to 234.6 ± 68.9 cells × 109 L-1, n.s).ConclusionsTreatment with amitriptyline tends to be associated with elevated platelet counts. The cause for this increase is not known, but may be relevant in terms of patients’ long-term thromboembolic risk.

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