A 6-month follow-up of 184 anxious and depressed neurotic outpatients who
reported improvement after controlled drug trials of several weeks duration revealed an
astonishing relapse rate of 81% for anxious and 87% for depressed patients. Early as compared
to late relapse was associated with more chronicity and less improvement at the end
of the drug trial, while type of drug received did not affect relapse. Onset of relapse had no
effect on help-seeking behavior. At time of follow-up, non-relapsed patients had lowest and
untreated relapsed patients had highest symptom levels. It was concluded that short-term
drug treatment alone does not represent sufficient therapy for chronic neurotic anxious or
depressed outpatients.
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