Does the Presence of Dissociative Symptoms Affect the Response to Venlafaxine Treatment for Major Depression? An Open-Label, Prospective Study

Many psychiatric diseases may be accompanied by dissociative symptoms and disorders. This study examined whether dissociative symptoms affect the response to venlafaxine treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). The study included 40 patients who had a diagnosis of MDD according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition) criteria. Venlafaxine was administered to each patient (37.5 mg to 150 mg daily) for 10 weeks. The researchers used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Dissociation Questionnaire (DIS-Q) on cases with MDD at the beginning of the study. The researchers divided the patients into two groups according to DIS-Q scores and conducted the BDI again at the end of the 10-week period. The authors detected the difference between the values of decrease in BDI scores as a percentage. They found these values to be 48.03% +/- 29.03 in the low DIS-Q group and 27.06% +/- 32.91 in the high DIS-Q group. They also found a significant difference between the groups (z = -2.167; P = .030). This study showed that, in patients with MDD, intense dissociative experiences reduced the response to venlafaxine therapy. [Psychiatr Ann 2022;52(3):119-125.]