Diuretic-antidepressant combination in alcoholic depressives--preliminary findings.

Six patients suffering from primary affective illness and habitual excessive drinking, who had not responded to tricyclic antidepressant and/or electroconvulsive therapy, were treated with a combined diuretic-tricyclic (furosemide-amitriptyline) regimen. The patients acted as their own control. Four patients, two unipolars and two bipolars, had complete remissions, while the other two patients with chronic depression showed symptomatic improvement. The implications of sodium retention for the pathogenesis of depression and alcoholism are discussed and a hypothetical positive feedback system which maintains depression and alcoholism in alcoholic depressives is proposed.