PREDICTORS OF (NON-)RESPONSE IN DEPRESSED OUTPATIENTS TREATED WITH A 3-PHASE SEQUENTIAL MEDICATION STRATEGY

The predictive value of eight domains or sets of variables including s ociodemographic aspects, premorbid history, symptomatology, personalit y, social and diagnostic data are evaluated in depressed outpatients w ith a Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) score of at least 14 . Patients were treated using a three-phase sequential treatment strat egy. Of the 119 patients, 88 completed the trial. The HRSD-score at th e end of phases I, II or III was used as an outcome measure. Patients with an initially high HRSD-score and an obsessive-compulsive personal ity had a greater chance of recovery, while patients with somatization and a passive-aggressive personality had less of a chance of recovery . Variables involving psychiatric history, premorbid history or sympto matology of the depression, were not significantly related to outcome. The endogenous/non-endogenous distinction was not a predictor of resp onse.