Depressed outpatients. Results one year after treatment with drugs and/or interpersonal psychotherapy

Abstract

A one-year follow-up was conducted on ambulatory nonbipolar, nonpsychotic, acutely depressed patients who received amitriptyline hydrochloride and/or interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), each alone and in combination, as part of a four-month clinical trial. There were no differential long-term effects of the initially randomized treatment on clinical symptoms one year later since most of the patients were asymptomatic. While most patients were functioning reasonably well, there were some main effects of IPT on social functioning at the one-year follow-up. Patients who received IPT with or without pharmacotherapy were doing significantly better on some measures of social functioning