Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:34-38
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Potentiation of antidepressant effects by L-triiodothyronine in tricyclic nonresponders
FK Goodwin, AJ Prange Jr, RM Post, G Muscettola and MA Lipton
Six women and 6 men who were treated in double-blind fashion major
depressive illness did not respond to imipramine or amitriptyline, 150- 300
mg/day, during periods of 26-112 days. After the addition of 25
micrograms/day (10 patients) or 50 micrograms/day (2 patients) of L-
triiodothyronine (T3), 9 patients showed statistically significant
improvement in depression scores; in 8 patients the response was marked.
Improvement generally began within 1-3 days and was noted in all aspects of
the depressive syndrome; side effects were minimal. T3 did not change
plasma levels of imipramine or desipramine or their ratio but did suppress
serum thyroxine.
