DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOM OR SIDE EFFECT? A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SYMPTOMS DURING PRE-TREATMENT AND TREATMENT PERIODS OF PATIENTS ON THREE ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATIONS

Abstract

Thirty symptoms and signs frequently considered to be side-effects of antidepressant drugs were analyzed in 97 severely depressed hospitalized patients prior to somatic treatment and during each week of a four-to eight week treatment period. Side-effects were found to have been present prior to treatment for 29 of the 30 types of somatic complaints. Pre-treatment incidence of such symptomatology was as high as 87%. Such apparent side-effects (somatic complaints present prior to treatment, but frequently attributed to drug factors during the course of treatment) are present most frequently in the older age groups, and in patients with psychotic depressive reaction. True side-effects of the 3 antidepressant drugs[long dash]isocarboxazid, phenelzine and imipramine[long dash]are found much less frequently than is usually reported in the literature, and are not necessarily dose-related. It is suggested that the reports of high frequency of side-effects reflect the presence of a substantial proportion of apparent . side-effects. Improvement on somatic treatment is correlated with low frequency of somatic symptoms and signs occurring during the course of treatment, whether or not they were present prior to therapy.