Treating geriatric depression: a 26-week interim analysis

Abstract

Two concurrent studies of geriatric outpatients who received diagnoses of depression were conducted. In the first, patients were treated with one of two tricyclic antidepressants or with a placebo. In the second, patients were assigned to groups receiving either psychodynamic group therapy or cognitive-behavioral group therapy. Patients in the placebo group showed the least improvement; most patients receiving group psychotherapy showed some improvement, but only 12% had full remissions; by contrast, 45% of patients receiving imipramine or doxepin had full remissions, while 36% of them experienced little or no benefit. An early response to tricyclic antidepressant drugs was a reliable predictor of continued improvement.