Posted by Bill L on July 24, 2003, at 14:51:57
TJO posted a link to a website that has many interesting study results. I have always felt that many people give up on antidepressants thinking that they don't work when really they just have not increased the dose high enough. I needed 60 mg of Celexa to feel good eventhough 20mg was the starting dose. I currently am doing very well on 20mg Lexapro although 10mg is the starting dose. Here is one of the articles on the website:
---------------------------------------
Welcome / Newswire Service
High levels of antidepressants linked to better recovery 23/04/2003 15:07:38
Depressed patients are significantly more likely to recover from recurrent affective episodes if they receive high levels of somatic antidepressant treatment, say US psychiatrists.The findings come from a 20-year longitudinal observational study on the effectiveness of somatic antidepressant treatments administered in the community during major affective episodes.
Researchers led by Dr Andrew Leon from Cornell University in New York followed a group of 285 subjects with unipolar major depressive disorder who had entered the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Depression Study.
The team found that patients who received higher levels of antidepressant treatment had more prior episodes, more severe depressive symptoms and more intensive somatic therapy than those who received lower levels.
Using a model that stratified treatment effectiveness by propensity for treatment intensity, the investigators showed, however, that patients who received higher levels of antidepressant treatment were significantly more likely to recover from affective episodes.
Depressed patients treated with lower levels, by contrast, were no more likely to recover than those who did not receive somatic treatment.
Writing in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr Leon’s team says their results provide evidence of the effectiveness of higher levels of somatic antidepressant therapy in a wider, more representative group of individuals than is often included in randomised clinical trials.
“These findings indicate that clinicians should try to administer higher antidepressant doses and work with patients to overcome obstacles such as side effects, financial costs and lack of motivation,” they say.
Reference: Leon et al, American Journal of Psychiatry 2003;160:727-733
© HMG Worldwide 2002-1
http://www.health-news.co.uk
poster:Bill L
thread:244921
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030723/msgs/244921.html