The impact of antidepressant drugs on the psychological status of the hospitalized burn patients

Abstract

Burn injury is often a devastating event with long-term psychosocial effects. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) antidepressants alleviate depressive symptoms by preventing serotonin that has been released into the brain by nerve cells from being taken back into the cells. This study investigated the impact of antidepressant drugs on the psychological status of hospitalized burn patients. This study was conducted on two equal groups of 60 adult patients in the burn unit at Assiut University Hospital, Egypt. The control group received the hospital routine medical and nursing managements, while the second group received the antidepressant drug after the third day post burn and continued to 6 weeks in addition to the routine medical and nursing managements. Studying the relations among scores of patient cooperation, nurse satisfaction, and levels of depression in the study and control groups showed that, at admission all the patients in both groups suffered from severe depression. From the second to the sixth week, the depression level in the study group changed to normal, the patients were cooperative and the nurses were satisfied.