Xref: utzoo sci.med:4917 sci.psychology:192
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!spdcc!dyer
From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Medication for Obsessive-Compulsive disorders?
Message-ID: <801@spdcc.COM>
Date: 8 Apr 88 01:09:24 GMT
References: <2425@saturn.ucsc.edu> <3909@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <1684@uhccux.UUCP> <1734@uhccux.UUCP>
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 28

In article <1734@uhccux.UUCP>, todd@uhccux.UUCP (Todd Ogasawara) writes:
> My apologies for not being clearer.  I should have said something more
> like: Due to the lag between the first administration of Imipramine and the
> time it first takes effect, it is often difficult to tell whether an
> improvement in the patient's condition is due to the effect of the drug or
> some maturation effect (changes that took place with the passage of time
> rather than being caused by the drug).  This might mean that a person would
> be taking Imipramine when he or she may not need it anymore.

Three weeks is typical for the lag time between first administration of
a tricyclic and a well-defined beneficial effect, although people who
respond best often show a more rapid response and it is unlikely that
an individual drug will be of benefit if the person has not demonstrated
some improvement by three weeks.  Antidepresssants are not prescribed for
short-term depressive episodes which are part of a normal life and whose
duration is so short that one could "mature" out of them in a matter of weeks.
As has been mentioned before, it is common to keep someone on drug therapy
for 6 to 9 months, and then to gradually taper the dose with the goal of
stopping treatment.  This is backed by studies which show that relapses are
more frequent in people who have been treated with antidepressants for fewer
than 6 continuous months.  The success or failure of tapering or eliminating
the drug will become evident over the succeeding weeks and months.  If the
depression recurs, it can generally be controlled by reintroducing the
antidepressant.
-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
dyer@spdcc.COM aka {ihnp4,harvard,husc6,linus,ima,bbn,m2c}!spdcc!dyer