Systematic Reviews of Drug Treatments for Depression

Follow the links below to find summaries of systematic reviews of the evidence for the effectiveness of drug treatments for depression.

Reviewed July 2009

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30 Resources Found
Results 1 to 20 displayed.
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Title:   St John's wort for major depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Depression is characterised by depressed mood and/or loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities and a variety of other symptoms for periods longer than two weeks. Extracts of St. John's wort (botanical name Hypericum perforatum L.) are prescr...
Date:   Aug 2008
Title:   Milnacipran versus other antidepressive agents for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Major depression, also known as major depressive disorder or unipolar depression, is a common mental disorder characterised by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy pleasurable activities....
Date:   Aug 2008
Title:   Sertraline versus other antidepressive agents for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Depression is the fourth leading cause of disease burden worldwide and is expected to show a rising trend over the next 20 years. Depression is associated with a marked personal, social and economic morbidity, loss of functioning and productivity, and c...
Date:   Jul 2008
Title:   Interventions for treating depression after stroke
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Antidepressant drugs may be useful in treating depression after stroke, but also cause side effects. Depression is common after stroke and may be treated with antidepressant medication or psychological therapy. This review of 16 trials, including 1655 p...
Date:   May 2008
Title:   Interventions for preventing depression after stroke
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The role of interventions for preventing depression after stroke is unclear. Depression is a common and important complication of stroke that is often missed or poorly managed. Little is known about whether treatment started early after stroke will redu...
Date:   Mar 2008
Title:   Tryptophan and 5-Hydroxytryptophan for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   5-HTP (Hydroxytryptophan) and tryptophan have been examined to see whether these treatments are effective, safe and acceptable in treating unipolar depression in adults. The researchers reported that the symptoms of depression decreased when 5-HTP and t...
Date:   Feb 2008
Title:   Tricyclic drugs for depression in children and adolescents
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Tricyclic drugs do not seem useful for treating children before puberty, and are of moderate benefit at most for adolescents. Although tricyclic drugs are effective in treating adults with depression, it is not clear whether they are safe and effective ...
Date:   Feb 2008
Title:   Active placebos versus antidepressants for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   This review examined trials which compared antidepressants with 'active' placebos, that is placebos containing active substances which mimic side effects of antidepressants. Small differences were found in favour of antidepressants in terms of improveme...
Date:   Feb 2008
Title:   Psychostimulants for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Depression is common and under-treated. The current first-line drug treatment for moderate or severe depression is antidepressants, but there are problems with their use. This review evaluated the evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evalua...
Date:   Feb 2008
Title:   Atypical antipsychotics for people with both schizophrenia and depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   It is well known that depression occurs in people with schizophrenia. Atypical antipsychotics are used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia but their specific effects on those with schizophrenia and depression are unclear, although they are marketed f...
Date:   Nov 2007
Title:   Antidepressants versus placebo for depression in primary care
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Depression in the primary care setting is very common. However, most systematic reviews of antidepressant treatment have included trials conducted in secondary care settings. There has been doubt about the effectiveness of antidepressants in primary car...
Date:   Sep 2007
Title:   Amitriptyline for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Amitriptyline still has a place in the pharmacological management of depressive episodes. The findings of this systematic review showed that in comparison with control agents, amitriptyline was slightly more effective, but the burden of side-effects was...
Date:   May 2007
Title:   Electroconvulsive therapy for the depressed elderly
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Antidepressant drugs often cause side effects in elderly people, which may limit the effectiveness of treatment for depression. ECT can be an important alternative to drug treatment for depressed elderly people. This review involved searching the litera...
Date:   Jan 2007
Title:   Lithium versus antidepressants in the long-term treatment of unipolar affective disorder
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   This systematic review investigated the efficacy and tolerability of lithium compared to antidepressants for the long-term treatment of unipolar affective disorder. Eight randomised studies (reporting on 475 participants) were included in the review. We...
Date:   Aug 2006
Title:   Physical measures for treating depression in dialysis patients
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Depression is the most common psychological problem in the chronic dialysis population and it affects their physical, mental and social well-being. The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of physical measures (e.g. antidepressants, ele...
Date:   Mar 2006
Title:   Antidepressants for depressed elderly
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   This review compared the efficacy, withdrawal rates and side effects of different antidepressant classes in the treatment of depression in older people. Thirty-two studies provided data for the review. Our main findings indicate that tricyclic antidepre...
Date:   Feb 2006
Title:   Fluoxetine versus other types of pharmacotherapy for depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The efficacy and tolerability of fluoxetine was compared to other antidepressants (tricyclics, heterocyclics and newer antidepressants) for the acute treatment of depressive illness. One hundred thirty-two randomised controlled trials were identified. P...
Date:   Aug 2005
Title:   Pharmacological treatment for psychotic depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The combination of an antidepressant with an antipsychotic may not be more effective than an antidepressant alone, but combination therapy may be more effective than an antipsychotic alone. Starting with the combination of an antidepressant and an antip...
Date:   Aug 2005
Title:   Antidepressants plus benzodiazepines for major depression
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The reviewers report that a combination of benzodiazepines with antidepressants works in favour for the treatment of depression, because it decreases drop outs from treatment and it increases short-term response up to four weeks. However, there are down...
Date:   May 2005
Title:   Folate for depressive disorders
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   This systematic review was undertaken to see if giving folate to people with depressive disorders reduced their depressive symptoms. Three randomized trials were identified, involving a total of 247 people. In all three trials, folate was well tolerated...
Date:   May 2005
Results 1 to 20 displayed.
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