Journal of affective disorders
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Comparative Study
The treatment of depression in UK general practice: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants compared.
Antidepressants are commonly prescribed by general practitioners as treatment for depression. Controversy exists as to the effectiveness in everyday use of the older tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) when compared to the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). ⋯ General practitioners should prescribe a therapeutic dose of antidepressant for a recognised therapeutic period to ensure that patients with depression receive the most effective treatment.
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The terminology and definition of mood disturbance during the early postpartum period has yet to be clearly elucidated among clinical practitioners. Criteria for maternity blues have not been well established, and it may overlap with the beginning of a postnatal depression. The aims of the present study, are firstly to survey the symptomatic features of mood disturbance in the very early postpartum period and secondary, to develop a guideline for detecting and predicting postnatal depression during the same period using a simple screening technique. ⋯ The use of the EPDS during the early postnatal days, can be a simple and useful screening instrument for the onset of early postnatal depression.
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Comparative Study
Health-related quality of life using the SF-36 in patients with bipolar disorder compared with patients with chronic back pain and the general population.
The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the health-related quality of life of patients with bipolar disorder and chronic back pain and, in turn, to compare these results with those previously generated for the general population. ⋯ Patients with bipolar disorder had substantial impairment in health-related quality of life in comparison with the general population. Bipolar patients were less compromised in areas of physical and social functioning than chronic back pain patients but had similar impairment in mental health.
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There is now some evidence that anxiety or anxiety disorders are related to increased activity of serum prolyl endopeptidase (PEP) and that major depression is related to lower serum PEP. The aims of the present study were to examine (i) the effects of pregnancy and delivery on serum PEP and (ii) the relationships between serum PEP and postpartum depression, anxiety in the early puerperium and a past history of depression. ⋯ The results suggest that increased serum PEP may be related to postpartum anxious blues and that lowered serum PEP may predispose toward postpartum major depression.
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The association between depression and pain, function, medically unexplained symptoms and psychophysiological syndromes such as irritable bowel syndrome has not been explored before in chronic fatigue syndrome. ⋯ Treating depression in chronic fatigue syndrome is unlikely to diminish reporting of pain and medically unexplained symptoms but may improve social function.