Amitriptyline and Trimipramine in Neurotic Depressed Outpatients: A Collaborative Study
KARL RICKELS M.D.1,
STANFORD E. BAZILIAN M.D.2,
PAUL E. GORDON M.D.3,
CHARLES C. WEISE M.D.3,
HAROLD S. FELDMAN M.D.3, , and
DANIEL A. WILSON M.D.3
1 Professor of psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, and director, psychopharmacology research unit, Philadelphia General Hospital
2 Director, department of psychiatry, Philadelphia General Hospital
3 Psychopharmacology research unit's private practice research group
In a double-blind controlled study of 122 patients from four populations, amitriptyline produced the most and placebo the least amount of symptomatic improvement, with trimipramine slightly less efficacious than amitriptyline; general practice patients tended to improve the most and medical clinic patients the least. The authors suggest that amitriptyline may be more potent than trimipramine at equal dosages, as evidenced by its greater production of side effects, and that the small difference in clinical efficacy between the two drugs may thus be dosage related.
