[Sulpiride and depression].

For many years the antidepressive or uninhibiting effect of sulpiride has been a subject of controversy. Following recent reports underscoring an antidepressive action of sulpiride with mood inversion, we have studied 17 patients with depression in order to build a personal opinion. With a daily dosage of 150 mg, a satisfactory response was recorded in overall pathology in 76.5% of cases, and in depressive manifestations in 82% of cases. Therefore, we believe that sulpiride does have an antidepressive action, which begins approximately on the tenth day of treatment, while the uninhibiting effect becomes noticeable on the fifth day. It is to be pointed out that, among the 12 patients who had failed to respond to prior therapy with tricyclic antidepressants, 10 responded very satisfactorily to sulpiride.