Antidepressants Superior to Therapy in Treating Depression After Heart Attack

A Canadian study of cardiac patients has shown the antidepressant Celexa (Citalopram) to be successful in treating the severe depression experienced by nearly one-third of heart attack sufferers. Talk therapy, meanwhile, appeared to have no effect.

The study focused on 284 patients who spent in clinical therapy, received 12 weeks of medication or were part a control groups given placebos or 20 minutes a week to talk to doctors about practical health issues. Forty minutes of talk therapy a week was found to have no advantage over talking to doctors about other health issues. The antidepressant, however, was shown to improve depressive symptoms better than both talk therapy and placebo pills.

Treating depression in heart patients has become a priority since research in the 1990s showed that patients were twice as likely to die within six months of a heart attack if they also suffered from depression.

Read more: Antidepressants beat therapy, study finds

ABSTRACT:
Effects of Citalopram and Interpersonal Psychotherapy on Depression in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: The Canadian Cardiac Randomized Evaluation of Antidepressant and Psychotherapy Efficacy (CREATE) Trial