Emotional problems during weight reduction: advantages of a combined behavior therapy and antidepressive drug therapy for obesity.

Depressive symptoms may increase in a subgroup of obese individuals shortly after beginning a weight-reducing diet. Therefore an additional antidepressive medication should have a positive effect on the course and results of therapy. This hypothesis was tested in three different institutional settings, with identical therapeutic programs. In this study there were 23 obese women. Therapeutic strategies were concerned with an increase of self-control over eating behavior, the improvement of social skills, and the establishment of new problem-solving abilities. Doxepin was used as the anti-depressant in a double blind procedure. Our results seem to support the hypothesis of this study: depressive symptoms markedly increased soon after the beginning of weight-reduction; additional antidepressive medication helped to improve the symptoms and in the long term had a positive effect on the rate of weight loss.