Amitriptyline (Elavil), a new antidepressant.

Abstract

To date, the most effective antidepressants have been the monamine oxidase inhibitors and imipramine. These drugs, however, have limitations in the treatment of depression in schizophrenic patients, for they will frequently exacerbate the symptoms of schizophrenia, causing the delusions and hallucinations either to appear for the first time or to become more florid. This untoward effect is more marked with the monamine oxidase inhibitors than with imipramine. The purpose of the present study was to test the effectiveness of a new antidepressant, amitriptyline hydrochloride (Elavil),2 in the treatment of chronic psychotic patients manifesting depression in addition to their other symptoms. Amitriptyline is not a monamine oxidase inhibitor, but is related chemically and pharmacologically to imipramine. Twenty-eight female patients between the ages of 31 and 60 were chosen for the study. They had been continuously hospitalized from 1 to 23 years. Their diagnoses were as follows: 19 schizophrenia, 4 involutional psychosis, mixed type, 2 manic-depressive psychosis, mixed type, 1 psychosis with epidemic encephalitis, 1 psychosis due to alcohol, deterioration, 1 psychosis due to epilepsy, deterioration. The description of the patients varied, but on the whole they were clean and neat in