Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:93-95
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Response of psychotic and nonpsychotic depression to phenelzine
PG Janicak, GN Pandey, JM Davis, R Boshes, D Bresnahan and R Sharma
Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Chicago 60612.
The authors studied 52 depressed inpatients to examine treatment response
to phenelzine, a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor. All patients were
classified into one of three RDC categories (definitely psychotic, probably
psychotic, and nonpsychotic). For the entire sample, the mean platelet MAO
inhibition level achieved with phenelzine was greater than 80%. Response to
treatment was determined by independent clinical assessment and by the
change in rating scores from baseline; 68% of the nonpsychotic, 43% of the
probably psychotic, and 21% of the definitely psychotic patients were
classified as responders. This differential response rate is similar to
that reported in the literature for tricyclic antidepressants.
