A preliminary study on the efficacy of sertraline and imipramine on anger attacks in atypical depression and dysthymia.

Compared the prevalence of anger in 168 outpatients (mean age 40.1 yrs) with atypical depression or primary dysthymia with 38 normal Ss and tested the effect of treatment on anger attacks in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of sertraline (SER) vs imipramine (IMI). Patients were randomly assigned to SER (n = 56), IMI (n = 52), or placebo (n = 60) and were administered the Anger Attacks Questionnaire before and after treatment. Depressed outpatients were significantly more likely to report anger than controls. Anger attacks ceased in 53% of those receiving SER, 57% of those receiving IMI, and 37% of those in the placebo group. Findings support previous studies indicating that attacks are more prevalent among depressed outpatients th- an normals. Results also suggest that SER and IMI may be more effective than placebo in reducing the number of anger attacks following treatment although the differences were not statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)