Dopaminergic deficit and the role of amisulpride in the treatment of mood disorders.

Amisulpride has now been investigated extensively in placebo controlled and in comparator controlled studies in patients suffering from dysthymia, both pure dysthymia and dysthymia with major depression. The clinical trial programme, which has shown the significant efficacy of amisulpride compared with placebo in three placebo controlled studies, has provided useful evidence of the value of a dopaminergic compound in the treatment of mood disorders. Amisulpride was superior to sertraline, an established treatment for depression and for dysthymia, on some measures and had a faster onset of effect. Retrospective analysis of the individual scale items showed that amisulpride had a broad range of effect on depressive symptoms with possible superiority on certain symptoms thought to be related to dopaminergic mechanisms. The body of studies supports the view that amisulpride is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for dysthymia and dysthymia with major depression.