Treatment responses in primary and secondary melancholia: a preliminary report.

ABSTRACT

Ten patients suffering from primary affective illness and melancholia were compared to 10 melancholic subjects whose depression was chronologically superimposed on a preexisting nonaffective psychiatric disturbance. Both groups displayed a satisfactory response to treatment with amitriptyline. Similar patterns of improvement were reported in the two groups, and there was a concordance of subjective and objective rating methods.