Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T18:02:35.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neurotic illness and its response to anxiolytic and antidepressant treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Eve C. Johnstone ,
D. G. Cunningham Owens ,
C. D. Frith ,
Klim McPherson ,
C. Dowie ,
G. Riley  and
Aviva Gold
Eve C. Johnstone*
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
D. G. Cunningham Owens
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
C. D. Frith
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
Klim McPherson
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
C. Dowie
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
G. Riley
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
Aviva Gold
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical Research Unit, Harrow, Middlesex, Department of Social and Community Medicine, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Eve C. Johnstone, Division of Psychiatry, MRC Clinical Research Centre, Watford Rd, Harrow, Mddx HA1 3UJ.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Two hundred and forty neurotic out-patients were allocated to no diagnostic category but were rated in terms of observer and self ratings of both depression and anxiety at weekly intervals during a 4-week trial of amitriptyline, diazepam, amitriptyline and diazepam, and placebo. The sample could not be divided into anxious and depressed groups on the basis of the clinical picture. The outcome tended to be good irrespective of medication but the significant drug effects found were due to amitriptyline and concerned measures of anxiety as well as depression. It is concluded that a distinction between anxiety and depression in neurotic out-patients is of no practical value with regard to drug treatment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , May 1980 , pp. 321 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965). The diagnosis of depressive symptoms and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry 111, 659–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielding, L. P., Stewart-Brown, S. & Dudley, H. A. F. (1978). Surgeon related variables and the clinical trial. Lancet ii, 778–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, N. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. (1970). A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine. 24, 18–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Greenblatt, D. J. & Shader, R. I. (1974). Benzodiazepines in Clinical Practice. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Greenfield, N. S., Katz, D., Alexander, A. A. & Roessler, R. (1963). The relationship between physiological and psychological responsiveness: depression and galvanic skin response. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 136, 535–539.Google Scholar
Greer, H. S. & Cawley, R. H. (1966). Some Observations on the Natural History of Neurotic Illness. Australian Medical Association: New South Wales.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1959). The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology. 32, 50–55.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967). Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 6, 278–296.Google Scholar
Henry, B. W., Overall, L. E. & Markette, J. R. (1971). Comparison of major drug therapies for alleviation of anxiety and depression. Diseases of the Nervous System 32, 655–667.Google ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E. (1975). The Role of Diagnosis in Psychiatry, pp. 67–68. Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar
Klein, D. F. (1964). Delineation of two drug-responsive anxiety symptoms. Psychopharmacologia 5, 397–408.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H. & Wing, L. (1966). Physiological Measures, Sedative Drugs and Morbid Anxiety. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H., Bond, A. J. & James, D. C. (1974). Clinical comparison of anxiolytic drug therapy. Psychological Medicine 4, 381–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leff, J. P. (1978). Psychiatrists' versus patients' concepts of unpleasant emotions. British Journal of Psychiatry 133, 306–313.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1967). Melancholia, a clinical survey of depressive states. In Inquiries in Psychiatry, Clinical and Social Investigations, pp. 30–117. Routledge and Kegan Paul: Henleyon-on-Thames.Google Scholar
Mapother, E. (1926). Discussion on manic-depressive psychosis. British Medical Journal ii, 872–876.Google Scholar
Mendels, J., Weinstein, N. & Cochrane, C. (1972). The relationship between depression and anxiety. Archives of General Psychiatry 27, 649–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelder, J. (1975). Generalised Linear Models. Numerical Logarithms Group: Oxford.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1972). Depressive typologies and response to amitriptyline. British Journal of Psychiatry 120, 147–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S., Myers, L. K., Dienelt, M. N., Klerman, G. L.,Lindenthal, L. J. & Pepper, M. P. (1969). Life events and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 21, 752–760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peto, R., Pike, M. C., Armitage, P., Breslow, N. E., Cox, D. R., Howard, S. V., Mantel, N., McPherson, K., Peto, J. & Smith, P. G. (1976). Design and analysis of randomised clinical trials requiring prolonged observation and treatment. I. Introduction and design. British Journal of Cancer 34, 585–612.Google Scholar
Prusoff, B. & Klerman, G. (1974). Differentiating depressed from anxious neurotic outpatients. Archives of General Psychiatry. 30, 302–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rickels, K., Hesbacher, P. & Downing, R. W. (1970). Differential drug effects in neurotic depression. Diseases of the Nervous System 31, 468–475.Google ScholarPubMed
Roth, M., Gurney, C., Garside, R. F. & Kerr, T. A. (1972). Studies in the classification of affective disorders. The relationship between anxiety states and depressive illness. I. British Journal of Psychiatry 121, 147–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, M., Lader, M. & Rodnight, R. (1968). Clinical Psychopharmacology, pp. 162–163. English Universities Press: London.Google Scholar
Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1969). Clinical Psychiatry, pp. 81, 100–102. Baillière, Tindall and Cassell: London.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P., Bridge, G. W. K. & Hamilton, M. (1976). The Leeds scales for the self-assessment of anxiety and depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 128, 156–165.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Garsuch, R. L. & Lushane, R. (1970). STAI - Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press Inc. Palo Alto.Google Scholar
Wittenborn, J. R., Plante, M., Burgess, F. & Maurer, H. (1962). A comparison of imipramine, electroconvulsive therapy and placebo in the treatment of depressions. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 135, 131–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1977). Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, vol. 1. WHO: Geneva.Google Scholar