Viloxazine at doses of 150-300 mg daily for 1 month produced significant
and rapid responses (after 3 days) in this multicentre study involving 115 inpatients with
moderate to severe depressive illness. Many had proved resistant to previous antidepressive
treatment. Side effects were not a major problem of therapy with viloxazine.
Lithium carbonate was used to treat 98 patients in the acute phase of
endogenous depression and involutional melancholia; results were favourable in 54 %. This is
approaching the rate of effectiveness of the tricyclical antidepressants. Qualitatively, the
efficacy of lithium is well balanced, appearing in both retarded and anxious, agitated and
atypical forms of depression, as reflected in the value of the index of antidepressive effect.
In this sense, the effect of lithium was close to that of trimeprimine, amitriptyline, proheptatriene,
perathiepine and convulsive methods. The best results were obtained on an
average in depression in which the intensity of initial symptoms was low. The patient’s age,
the number of phases experienced and the average blood serum lithium levels were not in
any way correlated with the results of treatment. Side effects occurred in most cases, and in
four, signs of intoxication appeared, but the outcome was satisfactory. Lithium cannot be
recommended as routine treatment for all cases of acute endogenous depression. It is intended
to investigate the possible relationship between the result of treating the acute
depressive phase with lithium and the response to subsequent prophylactic administration in
the same patient.
Eight tricyclic thymoleptics, six neuroleptics and convulsion
methods were compared as for therapeutical efficiency in 895 treatments
of endogenous depression. Distribution in the scheme was
performed according to the index of antidepressive effect (see diagram)
representing the qualitative differences in applied therapeutical
methods. In quantitative therapeutical efficiency, convulsive treatment
demonstrated significantly more favourable results than drugs;
tricyclic thymoleptics did not differ significantly from neuroleptic
drugs. The tested piperazine phenothiazines achieved the therapeutic
efficiency of levopromazine and thioridazine only by adding antiparkinsonian
drugs.
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