The influence of trazodone treatment on cognitive functions in outpatientswith major depressive disorder

Eight patients suffering from major depression were treated with trazodone 150 or 200 mg bid (non-responders) over 5 weeks, preceded and followed by a placebo week. Cognitive functioning was tested in the morning at the end o f each treatment week. Before trazodone treatment commenced, patients' cogn itive performance was compared with non-depressed controls. The depressed g roup showed significantly slower-reaction times on the memory scanning test , but did not differ from the control group on five other tests including w ord learning, Critical Flicker/Fusion frequency (CFF),: vigilance, tracking and divided attention. CFF threshold decreased significantly during trazod one treatment. CFF returned to its initial baseline level at the end of the placebo withdrawal. During the trazodone treatment period, recall from lon g-term memory of a previously learnt word list significantly improved, but at the end of the placebo withdrawal period memory performance returned to its initial baseline level. These results indicated that the subchronic inf luence of trazodone on cognitive functions is at least of a two-dimensional nature: decreased CFF threshold can be interpreted in terms of lowered CNS arousal. whereas a higher cognitive function, memory, improved, possibly r elated to the relief of depressive symptoms. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.