Depressed College Students and Tricyclic Antldepressant Therapy

Abstract

Charts of all outpatients (n = 267) seen during three consecutive months of 1977 by a university student mental health clinic were retrospectively reviewed for reports of depression. Over one-fourth of university students (n = 76) seen during this period were noted to present with significant symptoms and signs of depression. Charts of depressed patients were further analyzed for distribution by final diagnostic category, demographic data, and treatment outcome results. The majority of depressed patients were diagnosed as depressive neurosis while the second most common diagnosis was adjustment reaction. A significant proportion of patients with a final diagnosis of depressive neurosis had initially been diagnosed as adjustment reaction. Vegetative signs of depression were Infrequently noted In patients with adjustment reaction. These patients were usually treated with psychotherapy alone and showed symptomatic Improvement in one-half of cases. Vegetative signs, especially sleep disturbance, were noted in one-half of patients with depressive neurosis. These patients were often treated with tricyclic antidepressants plus psychotherapy, which resulted in significantly greater Improvement in both dysphoria and vegetative signs than treatment with psychotherapy only. Treatment outcomes for depressed patients thought to have concomitant character disorders were uniformly poor.

Thus, depressed college students In the present study represented several distinct diagnostic groups, of which patients with depressive neurosis showed optimal treatment outcomes following tricyclic antidepressant therapy.