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- Title
The effect of alexithymic features on response to antidepressant medication in patients with major depression.
- Authors
Aytekin Özsahin; Özcan Uzun; Adnan Cansever; Zeynep Gulcat
- Abstract
There has been no follow-up study regarding the effect of alexithymic features on antidepressant treatment. This study was planned to observe whether alexithymia effects short-term treatment outcome in depression. The study included 32 alexithymic and 33 nonalexithymic outpatients with major depression. Depression was assessed on the basis of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). Level of depression was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Alexithymia was screened using the Turkish version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). All patients received 20 mg/d paroxetine for 10 weeks. Alexithymic and nonalexithymic patients were compared on the HAM-D scores, TAS-20 scores, and rate of response to antidepressant medication. The rate of responders, defined by a reduction of >50% from baseline in HAM-D total score, was 21.9% in the alexithymic group and 54.5% in the nonalexithymic group. Changes in the HAM-D scores were significantly correlated with the TAS-20 scores. TAS-20 scores dropped below 61 in only 31.2% of the alexithymic patients, and 68.8% of patients remained alexithymic. Whereas 50% of patients whose TAS-20 scores dropped below 61 responded to antidepressant medication, this rate was only 9.1% among patients who remained alexithymic. These findings indicated that the stability of alexithymic features had a negative effect on antidepressant treatment in depression. Depression and Anxiety 18:6266, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
- Subjects
ANTIDEPRESSANTS; PSYCHIATRIC drugs; MENTAL depression; PATHOLOGICAL psychology; NEUROSES
- Publication
Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), 2003, Vol 18, Issue 2, p62
- ISSN
1091-4269
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/da.10117