This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel trial conducted in outpatients in three countries. Following screening and placebo washout, patients received brofaromine (a combined MAO-A inhibitor/5-HT transport inhibitor) or placebo in a flexible dosing design. Based upon the CAPS, a standardized post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) interview, findings from a cohort involving both subchronic and chronic traumatic stress marginally favored brofaromine over placebo; however, not to a statistically significant degree. With a more conservation definition of the syndrome, employing a primary cohort of patients with PTSD of one year or greater duration, brofaromine significantly reduced PTSD symptoms in comparison with placebo. In all analyses a substantial proportion of patients in both drug and placebo groups remained symptomatic throughout. Findings were supported by an analysis of secondary measures. Brofaromine may be of benefit in the therapy of PTSD.

Adult↗

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DSM-III-R personality disorders in seasonal affective disorder: change associated with depression.

Forty-five patients with winter Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) completed the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-Revised (PDQ-R) in a depressed state before starting therapy (light or medication), and again 14 weeks later when the scores on the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) had been reduced by an average of 74%. Prevalence and pattern of personality disorders (PDs) before treatment were similar to that found in patients with nonseasonal major depressive disorder (MDD) during a depressive episode. Number of categorical diagnoses were lower at follow-up for most PDs, but differences were not statistically significant. However, for dimensional scores (number of positive DSM-III-R criteria) significant changes were found for schizotypal, histrionic, narcissistic, and obsessive-compulsive PD, and for total dimensional score in cluster B and total score for all PDs. These changes differ from findings in similar studies of outpatients with nonseasonal MDD. Whether this indicates a specific pattern of change for patients with SAD is discussed. Multiple regression analysis showed a significant association between changes in positive PD criteria between the depressed and nondepressed state and change in depression score. No significant relationship was found between changes in PD criteria and Global Seasonality Score (GSS), a measure reflecting the sum of ratings of seasonal variation in sleep length, social activity, mood, weight, appetite, and energy level.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Winter depression with spring exacerbation: A frequent occurrence in women with seasonal affective disorder.

Winter depression (WD) usually starts in October/November and remits in February/March, but some experience a relatively short depressive exacerbation in spring. To further characterize this spring exacerbation (SE), 84 previously diagnosed WD patients rated in retrospect whether they had experienced SE after their otherwise typical WD in the years before receiving active treatment. Thirty-nine percent of the women and 12% of the men reported to have experienced SE many times or practically every year; another 28 and 29%, respectively, had experienced SE a few times. In general, the symptomatology during SE was about the same as during WD. Female patients who had experienced SE many times or practically every year were marginally older (p = 0.05) and had suffered many more previous WD episodes (p = 0.0005) than female patients having experienced SE only a few times or never.

Adult↗