Interpersonal improvement in chronically depressed patients treated with desipramine

Objective: Interpersonal difficulties of dysthymic patients are little studied. We used the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) to assess baseline status and medication response in chronic depression. Method: 39 chronically depressed subjects answered the IIP at entry and after 10 weeks of desipramine (DMI). Seventeen DMI responders completed IIPs after a 16-week continuation phase. Results: Mean scores improved on all six IIP subscales during acute treatment. Continuation phase IIP improved non-significantly, approaching normative scores. Baseline IIP score correlated inversely with treatment outcome. Conclusions: Findings replicate in greater interpersonal detail research demonstrating rapid social amelioration in chronically depressed responders to antidepressant medication. The IIP may be useful as a predictive and interpersonal sensitivity measure in treatment studies of chronic depression.