Correlation of Clinical Features of Depressed Out-Patients with Response to Amitriptyline and Protriptyline

Considerable inconsistency exists in the literature concerning the clinical features of depression associated with a good response to anti-depressant medication. Abraham et al . (1963) summarized the literature to that date; the general consensus of opinion was that imipramine had its best effect in depressions of the endogenous rather than those of the neurotic type, but their study on depressed out-patients did not support this conclusion. Browne et al . (1963), working with in-patients, reported that reactive depressives showed a better response to amitriptyline than did endogenous depressives. Burt et al . (1962), in their report of the response of 73 depressed female in-patients treated with imipramine or amitriptyline, demonstrated a much better response to both drugs by reactive as compared with endogenous depressives. Spear et al . (1964) found no significant difference in respect to “endogenicity”, in the response of depressed in- and out-patients to tranylcypromine and imipramine. Richmond and Roberts (1964) reported that out-patients suffering from endogenous depression responded much better to a variety of anti-depressant drugs than did those suffering from reactive depression.