CONTROLLED COMPARISON OF TIANEPTINE, ALPRAZOLAM AND MIANSERIN IN THE TREATMENT OF ADJUSTMENT DISORDERS WITH ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

A multicentre study compared tianeptine (37 . 5 mg/day), an original p sychotropic compound characterized by both antidepressant and anxiolyt ic potentials, with a reference antidepressant, mianserin (60 mg/day) and a reference anxiolytic, alprazolam (1 . 5 mg/day), in the treatmen t of 152 patients fulfilling DSM-III-R criteria for adjustment disorde r with mixed emotional features (anxiety and depression). The study us ed a double-blind parallel design over a 6-week period. Clinical asses sments included the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI), the Montgomery and Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS), the Hamilton anxiety ratin g scale, a visual analogue scale, and the somatic scale of the system developed by the Association for the Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry (AMDP). Results showed very similar improvement in the thre e treatment groups on all rating instruments. Moreover, the number of patients exhibiting adverse events did not differ among the three grou ps. Therefore, these results show similar antidepressant and anxiolyti c activity for tianeptine, mianserin and alprazolam in patients suffer ing from adjustment disorder with mixed emotional features. These prom ising findings should however be confirmed in a placebo-controlled tri al.