Carbamazepine in the prophylaxis of major depression: a 5-year follow-up.
| Autor: | Stuppaeck CH; Innsbruck University Clinics, Department of Psychiatry, Austria., Barnas C, Schwitzer J, Fleischhacker WW |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | The Journal of clinical psychiatry [J Clin Psychiatry] 1994 Apr; Vol. 55 (4), pp. 146-50. |
| Abstrakt: | Background: The prophylaxis of unipolar depression is still controversial. Some physicians prefer lithium, others maintenance treatment with antidepressants. The role of carbamazepine remains unclear. Only a few patients have been described in the literature; most are lithium nonresponders or rapid cyclers. Methods: In an open-label naturalistic study, 15 patients suffering from major depression with melancholia (DSM-III, 296.2, 296.3) and receiving long-term prophylaxis with carbamazepine were followed for 5 years. Four had been pretreated with lithium without satisfactory effects, 11 were prophylaxis naive. We compared the number of depressive episodes before and during carbamazepine treatment. Results: The mean time span patients received carbamazepine was 49.5 months. Seventy-three percent (11 of 15) of the patients gained substantial benefit from carbamazepine. Side effects were infrequent. Conclusion: Our results encourage further controlled and prospective studies using carbamazepine for maintenance treatment of patients with unipolar major mood disorder. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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