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Health Watch: Combination Depression Treatments

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Jan 21, 2008 9:00 am US/Eastern

Health Watch: Combination Depression Treatments

Reporting
Dr. Max Gomez
NEW YORK (CBS) ― It is something you hear over and over from people suffering with major depression. Nancy Berry has been struggling with depression much of her life.

"I never attempted suicide but I certainly thought about it a lot," said depression patient Nancy Berry. "Depression is, for me, was essentially shutting down altogether, not wanting to get out of bed, not able to judge things properly, having a completely bleak attitude about everything."

Anti-depression medications helped Nancy and millions like her, but as effective as they are, they do have drawbacks.

Dr. Patrick McGrath from the New York State Psychiatric Institute explains. "They only work for a minority of the patients. Some people don't get better with their first antidepressant and even the ones who do get better it takes a number of weeks, maybe up to eight or even twelve weeks to see a full response."

"Then you have to start over again with something else…really, really suffering. It's a true nightmare," Nancy said.

So psychiatrists figured they'd try something out of the asthma and hypertension playbook. These diseases are usually treated with a combination of medications, drugs that attack the problem from different angles.

Dr. McGrath ran a pilot study with 30 patients, giving them a combination of lexapro and wellbutrin, two well-known anti-depression drugs that work in different ways.

"Not only did we get about twice as many people better on the combination, but the people who got better, got better much faster. Half of the people who recovered, recovered within the first two weeks of the study, which was unheard of in previous studies, Dr. McGrath said.

McGrath is recruiting patients for a much larger, controlled study to confirm whether combination therapy in fact helps more people get better, faster. And because the combination uses lower doses of each drug, side effects are expected to be lower as well.

After many attempts, Nancy is on a different combination of medications that are working for her, and she says she's feeling good now. "I do and I have for some time. I think the smile says it," she said. 

To contact the depression service of the NYS Psychiatric Institute, call (212) 543-5734.

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