Double-bind comparison of maprotiline with amitriptyline in the treatment of depressive illness.

Thirty patients closely matched for age, sex and duration of illness were treated with either amitriptyline or maprotiline in a double-blind, between-patient trial. Within limits of the small number of patients in the trial, maprotiline produced a significantly quicker improvement during the first 2 weeks as judged by the scores on the Hamilton Rating Scale. Maprotiline showed better tolerability than amitriptyline overall, especially as far as trial drop-out rates were concerned.