Journal of psychiatric research
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Adjunctive herbal medicine with carbamazepine for bipolar disorders: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.
Chinese herbal medicines possess the therapeutic potential for mood disorders. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and side effects of the herbal medicine called Free and Easy Wanderer Plus (FEWP) as an adjunct to carbamazepine (CBZ) in patients with bipolar disorders. One hundred and twenty-four bipolar depressed and 111 manic patients were randomized to treatment with CBZ alone, CBZ plus FEWP, or equivalent placebo for 12 weeks. ⋯ Compared to CBZ monotherapy, adjunctive FEWP with CBZ resulted in significantly better outcomes on the three measures of depression at week 4 and week 8 and significantly greater clinical response rate in depressed subjects (84.8% vs. 63.8%, p=0.032), but failed to produce significantly greater improvement on manic measures and the response rate in manic subjects. There was a lesser incidence of dizziness and fatigue in the combination therapy compared to CBZ monotherapy. These results suggest that adjunctive FEWP has additive beneficial effects in bipolar patients, particularly for those in depressive phase.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A double-blind, placebo-controlled comparison of venlafaxine and fluoxetine treatment in depressed outpatients.
This double-blind, placebo-controlled study compared venlafaxine (immediate release), the first modern serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine. Outpatients were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of treatment with venlafaxine (75-225mg/day; n=102), fluoxetine (20-60mg/day; n=104), or placebo (n=102). Efficacy was assessed using the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D(21)), the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) scale, response and remission rates, and several other measures. ⋯ This study provides further evidence that venlafaxine is effective after 6 weeks of treatment compared with placebo. The efficacy profile of fluoxetine was somewhat less consistent. It is strongly recommended that future studies of comparative antidepressant efficacy be adequately powered to detect modest between-drug differences in efficacy.