The British Journal of Psychiatry 142: 391-397 (1983)
© 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Subjective side-effects of amitriptyline and lithium in affective disorders
MT Abou-Saleh and A Coppen
The prevalence of subjective side-effects was studied in 258 control
subjects, 65 drug-free depressive in-patients and 94 lithium-treated
out-patients. It was shown that drug-free depressives reported more
side-effects than both control subjects and lithium-treated patients.
Side-effects were studied during amitriptyline therapy. Depressed patients
on no medication complained of only slightly fewer side- effects than when
they had received amitriptyline. There was a significant positive
correlation of Hamilton depression scores and side- effects scores at
baseline. Side-effects and affective morbidity over two years were
investigated in 94 patients with recurrent affective disorders on long-term
lithium therapy. Psychological variables were also investigated in 74 of
these patients. Subjective side-effects reported by lithium-treated
patients including those specific to lithium were related to their
affective morbidity and personality variables. Patients on lithium
complained significantly less of headache and unilateral headache than
controls.