Comparison of Different Antidepressants and Psychotherapy in the Short-term Treatment of Depression

This paper reports the result of an analysis of data of brief therapy for patients with depression referred by physicians in a busy specialist hospital in Kuala Lumpur. The patients were divided into three groups at random using one of three antidepressants i.e. escitalopram, sertraline, or fluoxetine. All patients received cognitive behavior therapy. The therapy was aimed for a maximum of twelve sessions after which the patients will be discharged. However there were patients on escitalopram and sertraline that went on follow-up sessions monthly till six months and these patients were analized separately. There were 32 patients in the escitalopram group, 33 patients in the sertraline group, and 31 patients in the fluoxetine group. The result shows that all the groups were similar in the severity and scores pre-treatment but post-treatment there were a significant difference among them. All groups showed significant improvements in all modalities of measurements. However the escitalopram group showed better improvement compared to the two other groups.