Life satisfaction and psychosocial functioning in chronic depression: effect of acute treatment with antidepressants.

Author(s): Agosti V, Stewart JW, Quitkin FM

Affiliation(s): New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY 10032.

Publication date & source: 1991-09, J Affect Disord., 23(1):35-41.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

Social functioning was evaluated in 61 chronically depressed adults with early onset. Patients were treated for 6 weeks in a double-blind trial of phenelzine, imipramine, L-deprenyl, or placebo and functioning was reassessed. The posttreatment social functioning of patients who received drug treatment was superior to the placebo group in the following areas: work functioning, house functioning, relationship with relatives, sex frequency and life satisfaction. These results suggest that psychosocial impairment in some chronic depressives may be a sequaela of depression, rather than a global manifestation of characterological pathology.