Failure of chronic antidepressant treatment to alter growth hormone response to clonidine.

The effect of 4 to 6 weeks of treatment with the antidepressants, desmethylimipramine and amitriptyline, on the growth hormone response to clonidine was studied in 12 depressed patients. In contrast to the reported effects of clonidine in healthy subjects, clonidine did not significantly increase growth hormone secretion in the depressed patients before treatment. The antidepressant treatments did not alter the growth hormone response to clonidine in either treatment responders or nonresponders.