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Mianserin and Lithium in the Prophylaxis of Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Alec Coppen ,
Karabi Ghose ,
Rama Rao ,
John Bailey  and
Malcolm Peet
Alec Coppen*
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
Karabi Ghose
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
Rama Rao
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
John Bailey
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
Malcolm Peet
Affiliation:
The Medical Unit, Organon Scientific Development Group, OSS, Holland
*
Reprint requests to Dr A. Coppen.
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Summary

Forty-one out-patients with a history of at least three attacks of depressive illness were randomly allocated to treatment on a double-blind basis for one year with either mianserin 20 mg three times daily plus placebo lithium tablets, or to lithium tablets once daily plus placebo mianserin tablets. After one year, the dosage of mianserin was increased to 30 mg t.d.s. for a further six months. All but three of the patients had previously been stabilized on prophylactic lithium therapy. Lithium was found to be significantly superior to mianserin in avoiding admission to hospital or ECT. The overall affective morbidity index, calculated from global rating, showed no significant difference between drugs, but the index of the mianserin group was higher in the second six months than in the first. The lithium group showed no such change. Lithium remains the choice for the prophylaxis of unipolar recurrent depressive illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 133 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 206 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

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References

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