Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Nov 1;112(1-2):39-45.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.05.010. Epub 2010 Jun 23.

Double-blind fluoxetine trial in comorbid MDD-CUD youth and young adults

Jack R Cornelius  1 , Oscar G Bukstein, Antoine B Douaihy, Duncan B Clark, Tammy A Chung, Dennis C Daley, D Scott Wood, Sandra J Brown
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Double-blind fluoxetine trial in comorbid MDD-CUD youth and young adults

Jack R Cornelius et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Abstract

Objective: This study compared the acute phase (12-week) efficacy of fluoxetine versus placebo for the treatment of the depressive symptoms and the cannabis use of adolescents and young adults with comorbid major depression (MDD) and a cannabis use disorder (CUD) (cannabis dependence or cannabis abuse). We hypothesized that fluoxetine would demonstrate efficacy versus placebo for the treatment of the depressive symptoms and the cannabis use of adolescents and young adults with comorbid MDD/CUD.

Methods: We conducted the first double-blind placebo-controlled study of fluoxetine in adolescents and young adults with comorbid MDD/CUD. All participants in both treatment groups also received manual-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and motivation enhancement therapy (MET) during the 12-week course of the study.

Results: Fluoxetine was well tolerated in this treatment population. No significant group-by-time interactions were noted for any depression-related or cannabis-use related outcome variable over the 12-week study. Subjects in both the fluoxetine group and the placebo group showed significant within-group improvement in depressive symptoms and in number of DSM diagnostic criteria for a CUD. Large magnitude decreases in depressive symptoms were noted in both treatment groups, and end-of-study levels of depressive symptoms were low in both treatment groups.

Conclusions: Fluoxetine did not demonstrate greater efficacy than placebo for treating either the depressive symptoms or the cannabis-related symptoms of our study sample of comorbid adolescents and young adults. The lack of a significant between-group difference in these symptoms may reflect limited medication efficacy, or may result from efficacy of the CBT/MET psychotherapy or from limited sample size.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Consort diagram showing the flow of participants through each stage of the randomized trial.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agosti V, Nunes E, Levin F. Rates of psychiatric comorbidity among U.S. residents with lifetime cannabis dependence. Am. J. Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2002;28:643–652. - PubMed
    1. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J. An inventory for measuring depression. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1961;4:561–571. - PubMed
    1. Birmaher B, Brent DA, Kolko D, Baugher M, Bridge J, Holder D, Iyengar S, Uloa RE. Clinical outcome after short-term psychotherapy for adolescents with major depressive disorder. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 2000;57:29–36. - PubMed
    1. Brent DA, Holder D, Kolko D, Birmaher B, Baugher M, Roth C, Iyengar S, Johnson BA. A clinical psychotherapy trial for adolescent depression comparing cognitive, family, and supportive therapy. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1997;54:877–885. - PubMed
    1. Carroll KM. Manual-guided psychosocial treatment: a new virtual requirement for pharmacotherapy trials. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1997;54:923–928. - PubMed

Publication types