The atypical antipsychotic drug, aripiprazole, enhances the response to antidepressants in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Atypical antipsychotic agents are often used to augment antidepressants among patients with refractory mood disorders. Aripiprazole is unique among the atypical antipsychotics and therefore more effective than other drugs in its class. It may also have a better adverse effect profile. Studies conducted so far in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder suggest that agents such as aripiprazole and ziprasadone may have advantages in terms of less weight gain, stiffness and lipid abnormalities compared with other atypical antipsychotic agents, including olanzapine, clozapine, quetiapine and risperidone. American researchers from the Northbrooke Research Center, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, recruited 12 patients who had been treated with an antidepressant for a minimum of 6 weeks but still had significant symptoms of depression. Patients were started on aripiprazole at doses of 10 to 15 milligrams, up to a maximum daily dose of 30 milligrams, for a total of 8 weeks. There were seven responders, defined as having a 50 percent or greater reduction in depressive symptoms, and five patients who went into remission. When the rate of change of depressive symptoms over time was examined, improvement with aripiprazole appeared robust and rapid, with a considerable proportion of overall improvement having occurred within the first week of treatment.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,
November 2005