My wife suffered mild postpartum depression just after our first girl was born and so when we started to try again for our second she was as you could imagine very nervous about it. No matter what Tom Cruise and others say anyone that is close to someone suffering from the baby blues know exactly how bad and how overwhelmingly sad this problem is for the woman that is feeling no love for their new born child and does not know why and is so incredibly frustrated by it.

Two widely used antidepressants, nortriptyline and Zoloft (sertraline), are safe and effective for treating postpartum depression, a new study finds. The University of Pittsburgh study is one of the first to compare the effectiveness of two classes of antidepressants — a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (Zoloft) and a tricyclic (nortriptyline) — in treating the common, debilitating condition.

“We’ve been treating postpartum depression based on the assumption that drugs that work for a woman with depression under usual circumstances, will work for a women who experiences depression after giving birth, but there have not been studies that provide scientific proof that this was an effective and safe course of treatment,” Dr. Katherine L. Wisner, professor of psychiatry and obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

The study started with 109 participants, randomly selected to take either nortriptyline or Zoloft. Of those 109 women, 95 provided response data at four weeks, 83 provided data at eight weeks, and 29 completed between 20 and 24 weeks of the study.

Both drugs produced similar results.

By week four, 46 of the participants taking Zoloft had responded with a reduction in depressive symptoms and 27 percent had remitted (few depressive symptoms), while 56 percent of those taking nortriptyline responded and 30 percent remitted. Of the 29 women who remained in the study until 20 to 24 weeks, 93 percent taking Zoloft responded and 73 percent remitted, while 100 percent taking nortriptyline responded and 79 percent remitted.

Both drugs produced similar improvements in psychosocial functioning, and neither drug was superior to the other in treating aggressive obsessional thoughts, the study said. The findings were published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

The Zoloft used in the study was donated by the drug’s maker, Pfizer, but the drug company did not provide any direct financial support for the study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Wisner is a member of Pfizer’s speaker’s bureau and has a grant from Pfizer to study one of its other products. Wisner is also a member of the speaker’s bureau for GlaxoSmithKline.

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Tags: depression, GlaxoSmithKline, Katherine L. Wisner, member, member of the speaker's bureau, pfizer, PostPartum depression, professor of psychiatry, speaker, Tom Cruise, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Zoloft

Sertraline is used medically mainly to treat the symptoms of depression and anxiety. It has also been prescribed for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, panic disorder, and bipolar disorder. It was first approved by the FDA in 1991. The patent for this brand-name drug expired in December 2005. It is anticipated that the generic drug will be available in the United States in June of 2006, manufactured by Andrx, Aurobindo, Genpharm, Ivax, Mylan, and Roxane. In Scandinavia a generic drug called Sertralin, manufactured by HEXAL is available. The price differences between Zoloft and Sertralin are as high as 1.50 dollars per pill.

Sertraline can have a number of adverse effects, including insomnia, asthenia, gastrointestinal complaints, tremors, confusion, dizziness, anorgasmia, and decreased libido; it can induce mania or hypomania in around 0.5% of patients. It has also been known to cause minor weight loss. It is contraindicated in individuals taking MAOIs or undergoing electroconvulsive therapy.

Until 2003 Zoloft was only approved for use in adults ages 18 and over; that year it was approved by the FDA for use in treating children ages 6 to 17 with extreme obsessive compulsive disorder. In June, 2004, Britain banned the use of Zoloft by minors and in February, 2005, Pfizer was forced to change the labeling of Zoloft to include information regarding increased incidences of suicidal behavior and depression in adolescent users of the drug. According to mentalhealth.com, Zoloft is not currently recommended or advised for use in individuals under the age of 18. After these changes, multiple incidences and at least one medical study showed an increased risk of suicide in seniors who were taking Zoloft. In response to these findings, the FDA released a public health warning. This warning indicates that anyone currently using Zoloft for any reason has a greater chance of exhibiting suicidal thoughts or behaviors regardless of age. This warning is questionable, however, due to the types of illnesses Zoloft is used to treat, it is impossible to determine if these tendencies are a side effect of the drug or the illness the drug is meant to treat.
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