PATTERNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS WITH FLUOXETINE TREATMENT

By definition, patients who respond to antidepressant treatment show s ignificant improvements in most, if not all, of their depressive sympt oms. We assessed the patterns of change in depressed outpatients treat ed openly with fluoxetine 20 mg/day for 8 weeks. We studied 62 depress ed outpatients with major depressive disorder who showed full response following fluoxetine treatment. Analysis of the data revealed that th e symptoms that tended to improve relatively early during treatment we re suicidal ideation, excessive guilt, and lack of appetite. Our tenta tive conclusion from this pilot study was that symptom improvement ten ds to occur in both cognitive and neurovegetative areas early in treat ment as well as later.