The study clearly indicates that elderly individuals who remain on anti-depressant drugs after recovering from depression are far less likely to suffer recurrences of depression than those who discontinue use of the drugs or are treated with psychotherapy alone.
The study was conducted by Charles F. Reynolds III and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. According to the report in the Journal, “one hundred sixteen patients over the age of 70 who responded to treatment with Paxil in combination with monthly psychotherapy were treated with either continued antidepressant drugs or a placebo in combination with psychotherapy or monthly medical management sessions.
The patients continued on these treatment therapies for two years or until major depression recurred.”
Results showed that “slightly more than one in three patients (35 percent) treated with the drug and psychotherapy became depressed again during this time, compared with 37 percent of patients treated with the drug and clinical management, 58 percent of those receiving placebo and monthly medical management, and 68 percent of those receiving placebo and psychotherapy.”
That means that patients who took the placebo were two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer a recurrence of depression. Most doctors, Reynolds noted, only treat depressed seniors with drugs like Paxil for about 6 months to 1 year, meaning that recurring depression is often common among seniors.
“We want to change the way physicians think about this illness in the elderly, especially general medicine physicians, because they are the ones who write most of the prescriptions,” says Reynolds. “Just like hypertension, depression is often a chronic disease that should be treated indefinitely.”
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