Augmenting Fluoxetine with Praying Therapy for Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

บทคัดย่อ

ABSTRACT
Objective : To assess the efficacy of augmentating fluoxetine with praying therapy compared to fluoxetine monotherapy for patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Methods : A single-blind randomized controlled trial study was conducted at Buddhasothorn hospital. Patients with major depressive disorder based on the DSM-IV criteria were purposively selected and randomly allocated into two groups. The treatment group was
treated with fluoxetine 20 mg/day augmented with praying, while the control group was treated with fluoxetine 20 mg/day only. Measurement as the following: 1) Hamilton rating scale for depression, thai version (HAM-D 17-item), 2) praying book and either tape cassette or CD recording of the prayers to use while praying along with a praying compliance evaluation form. The data of the drop-out group was managed with the last observation carried forward (LOCF) technique. Analysis was performed using t-test and statistical significance was set at 5% (p = 0.05)
Results : Fifty-nine patients were enrolled in the study; 27 were assigned to the treatment group and 32 as the control group. The number of patients in treatment group was 8 and the control group was 15 at the end of the study. No significant differences between 2 group HAM-D in mean score difference of the HAM-D. The mean scores within group during week 0, 1, 2, and 4 were reduced statistically in both groups.
Conclusion : Praying augmented therapy with fluoxetine is not superior effective than fluoxetine only for patients with major depressive disorder.