Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:30-34
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Behavioral predictors of amitriptyline response in depression
CJ Ranelli and RE Miller
In this study of 18 female depressed patients and 18 age- and sex- matched
control subjects, the authors examined the relationship between nonverbal
behavior and treatment outcome with amitriptyline. A behavioral analysis
indicated that amitriptyline responders could be differentiated from
nonresponders before drug treatment on the basis of discrete nonverbal
behaviors. Nonresponders showed a high frequency of body-focused
self-adaptors, posture shifts, and pauses and a low frequency of smiles,
while responders displayed long speech pauses and long durations of head
aversion.
