Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:22:50.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subjective Side-Effects of Amitriptyline and Lithium in Affective Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. T. Abou-Saleh  and
A. Coppen
M. T. Abou-Saleh
Affiliation:
West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
A. Coppen
Affiliation:
West Park Hospital, Epsom, KT19 8PB, Surrey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The prevalence of subjective side-effects was studied in 258 control subjects, 65 drug-free depressive in-patients and 94 lithium-treated out-patients. It was shown that drug-free depressives reported more side-effects than both control subjects and lithium-treated patients. Side-effects were studied during amitriptyline therapy. Depressed patients on no medication complained of only slightly fewer side-effects than when they had received amitriptyline. There was a significant positive correlation of Hamilton depression scores and side-effects scores at baseline. Side-effects and affective morbidity over two years were investigated in 94 patients with recurrent affective disorders on long-term lithium therapy. Psychological variables were also investigated in 74 of these patients. Subjective side-effects reported by lithium-treated patients including those specific to lithium were related to their affective morbidity and personality variables. Patients on lithium complained significantly less of headache and unilateral headache than controls.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 4 , April 1983 , pp. 391 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Abou-Saleh, M. T. (1980) Prediction of lithium response in manic-depressive illness. M.Phil. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Åsberg, M., Granholm, B., Sjoqvist, F. & Tuck, D. (1970) Correlation of subjective side-effects with plasma concentrations of nortriptyline. British Medical Journal, 4, 18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bech, P., Vandsborg, P. B. & Rafaelson, O. J. (1976) Lithium maintenance, treatment of manic-melancholic patients: Its role in the daily routine. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 53, 70–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, W. T. (1980) The pattern of lithium side-effects and toxic reactions in the course of lithium therapy. in Handbook of Lithium Therapy (ed. Johnson, F. N.). Lancaster, England: MTP Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, G. J. R. & Waters, W. E. (1974) Headache and migraine in London general practice. in The Epidemiology of Migraine (ed. Waters, W. E.). Bracknell, Berkshire: Boehringer Ingelheim.Google Scholar
Coppen, A. & Metcalfe, M. (1965) Effect of depressive illness on MPI scores. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 236–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppen, A. (1966) The Marke-Nyman Temperament Scale: An English translation. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 39, 55–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A., Peet, M., Bailey, J. et al (1973) Double-blind and open studies of lithium prophylaxis in affective disorders. Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, 76, 501–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A. & Ghose, K. (1976) Do tricyclic antidepressants work? Lancet, i, 914.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Bailey, J. & Rao, R. (1977) Lithium and memory impairment. Lancet, i, 448.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Ghose, K., Montgomery, S., Rama Rao, V. A., Bailey, J., Rafaelsen, O. J., Christiansen, J., Middleson, P. L., Van Praag, H. M., Van de Poel, F., Minsker, E. J., Kozulja, V. D., Mattusek, N., Kungkung, G. & Jørgensen, A. (1978b) Amitriptyline plasma concentration and clinical effect. Lancet, i, 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppen, A., Ghose, K., Rao, R., Bailey, J. & Peet, M. (1978a) Mianserin and lithium in the prophylaxis of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 206–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A., Metcalfe, M. & Bailey, J. (1979a) Lithium prophylactic therapy in unipolar depression and some possible prognosticators of response. In Lithium: Controversies and Unresolved Issues (eds. Cooper, T. B., Gershon, S., Kline, N. S. and Schou, M.). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Rama Rao, V. R., Swade, C. & Wood, K. (1979b) Zimelidine: A therapeutic and pharmacokinetic study in depression. Psychopharmacology, 63, 199–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dhume, V. G., Agshikar, N. V. & Dimiz, R. S. (1975) Placebo induced side-effects in healthy volunteers. The Clinician, 39, 289–91.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1976) Psychoticism as a Dimension of Personality. Sevenoaks, Kent: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1976) The Hierarchial Nature of Personal Illness. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ghose, K. (1977) Lithium salts: Therapeutic and unwanted effefts. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 18, 578–83.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E. & Di Scipio, W. J. (1968) Eysenck personality inventory scores of patients with depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 767–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathew, N. T. (1977) Lithium therapy in cluster headache. Headache, 17, 92–3.Google Scholar
Medical Research Council Clinical Psychiatry Committee (1965) Medical Research Council trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal, i, 881–6.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, M., Johnson, A. L. & Coppen, A. (1975) The Marke-Nyman Temperament Scale in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 41–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mindham, R. H. S. (1979) Tricyclic antidepressants and amine precursors. In Psychopharmacology of Affective Disorders (eds. Paykel, E. S. and Coppen, A.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pogge, R. (1963) The toxic placebo. Medical Times, 91, 773–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Prien, R. F., Klett, C. J. & Caffey, E. M. (1974) Lithium prophylaxis in recurrent affective illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reidenberg, M. & Lowenthal, D. (1968) Adverse non-drug reactions. New England Journal of Medicine, 279, 678–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schou, M., Baastrup, P. C., Grof, P., Web, P. & Angst, J. (1970) Pharmacological and clinical problems of lithium prophylaxis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 615–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulterbrandt, J. G., Raskin, A. & Reating, N. (1974) True and apparent side-effects in a controlled trial of chlorpromazine and imipramine in depression. Psychopharmacologia, 38, 303–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, A. K., Chassen, J., Morris, L. A. & Frick, R. (1974) Placebo induced side-effects. Journal of Operational Psychiatry, 6, 43–6.Google Scholar
Vestergaard, P., Amdisen, A. & Schou, M. (1980) Clinically significant side-effects of lithium treatment. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 62, 193–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.