There is considerable diversity of opinion as to the nature of the
response of depressed patients to amphetamine infusion. The authors report
on the clinical response of 18 endogenously depressed patients to
double-blind, intravenous administration of amphetamine or saline. Although
the drug produced activation, mood elevation, and recall of emotionally
charged material in the group as a whole, there was considerable
heterogeneity of response as well as a tendency for response dimensions to
vary independently of one another. The heterogeneity of clinical response
may be associated with differences in underlying clinical, biological, and
genetic variables in affectively ill patients.
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