MMPI delineation of a subgroup of depressed patients refractory to lithium carbonate therapy.

The authors found that in a sample of 26 severely depressed hospitalized patients, 5 patients with low depression and psychasthenia profiles on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory did not show an antidepressant response to lithium carbonate. Seventeen of 21 depressed patients with high depression and psychasthenia profiles did respond to the antidepressant effects of the drug. They tentatively conclue that by using the MMPI it is possible to delineate a subgroup of depressed patients who are refractory to lithium carbonate therapy.