The average duration of psychostimulant therapy was 46 months (approximately 4 years) in the amphetamine group and 57 months (approximately 5 years) in the methylphenidate group. In most cases the treatment was continuous. Patient characteristics arc summarized in Table I. Table I. Retrospective study; patient characteristics (n=65) Results Wnt inhibitor Thirty-eight Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical patients improved on treatment with psychostimulants, whereas 26 remained unchanged or deteriorated. It must be pointed

out that no rating scales or self -rating scores had been used in the patients, since it was not common in the fifties or earlier to evaluate a patient’s condition with scales. Patient, records therefore only allowed the course of the disease to be qualified as “better,” “unchanged,” Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical or “worse.” In this way it could be shown that there was no significant differences between the different, age-groups in terms of outcome (chi-square test, and analysis of variance for nonparametric samples). Because there was an overlap in the types of depression, we looked at the distribution of patients in terms of response to psychostimulant treatment with respect to syndrome (agitated depression and inhibited/anxious depression), and with respect to diagnosis (unipolar disorder and bipolar disorder) (Table II). The best response to psychostimulant, treatment Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was seen in the group of inhibited and anxious types of depression (27 out Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of 42 patients improved).

In the group of patients with agitated depression, 11 out of 22 patients were improved. Finally, 8 out of 16 patients with bipolar depression were improved. Table II. Effects curing treatment with psychostimulants (n=65) Looking now at improvement, in the course of depression according to the type of treatment the psychostimulant drug was added on to, improvement was noted in 6 out of 8 patients who were treated with a psychostimulant, and an MAOI, in 30 out of 48 patients treated with a psychostimulant and a tricyclic, in 21 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical out of 35 patients treated with a psychostimulant and an SSRI, in 21 out of 35 patients treated with a psychostimulant and lithium,

and in 12 out of 22 patients treated with a psychostimulant, and carbamazepine. Additional treatment with benzodiazepines was required in 21 out of 30 patients treated aminophylline with amphetamines and in 36 out of 48 patients treated with methylphenidate (13 patients received both drugs). Overall, the frequency of adverse events and side effects was higher in patients treated with methylphenidate than in patients treated with amphetamines. However, methylphenidate was prescribed in most cases to outpatients and at a relatively higher dosage. Side effects were reported in 51 out of 65 patients treated with psychostimulants, including nausea and headache in 32 patients, restlessness in 29 patients, agitation in 25 patients, sleep disturbances in 18 patients, and circulatory disorders in 6 patients.