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
. 1998 Oct;6(11):34-46.

Treatment of Depression in the Patient with Parkinson's Disease

Tiffany W Chow  1 , Jeffrey L Cummings  1
Affiliations

Treatment of Depression in the Patient with Parkinson's Disease

Tiffany W Chow et al. Clin Geriatr. 1998 Oct.
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Algorithmic approach to pharmacological treatment of depression in Parkinson's disease: If depressed and suicidal, treat with ECT; if depressed but not suicidal, reevaluate antiparkinsonism medications. Add selegiline if not already part of antiparkinsonian regimen; if inadequately treated for depression at this point, stop selegiline and begin SSRIs. More studies have focused on proving efficacy of TCAs than SSRIs, but the side-effect profile for SSRIs is more favorable for PD patients. Each antidepressant medication should have a six-week trial at the maximum tolerated therapeutic dosage or at the appropriate plasma level; if inadequately treated for depression with SSRIs, initiate treatment with TCAs; if inadequately treated for depression, consult a specialist in mood disorders, who may use ECT; once adequate antidepressant therapy has been identified, antidepressant medications should be continued for at least six months before tapering of the drug is attempted.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adams RD, Victor M. Principles of Neurology. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill; New York: 1989. p. 1286.
    1. Mindham RHS. Psychiatric symptoms in parkinsonism. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1970;33:188–191. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rodin G, Voshart K. Depression in the medically ill: An overview. Am J Psychiatry. 1986;143:695–705. - PubMed
    1. Cole SA, et al. Depression and disability in Parkinson's disease. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1996;8:20–25. - PubMed
    1. Kostic VS, et al. Effect of age at onset on frequency of depression in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1994;57:1265–1267. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources