Tricyclic antidepressants in the treatment of alcoholism and drug abuse.

Although the frequent coexistence of substance abuse and depression is widely recognized, studies assessing the efficacy of tricyclic antidepressants in patients who abuse alcohol and/or drugs have been problematic because of controversies about how to diagnose depression in this population, failure to measure plasma antidepressant levels, and inconsistent treatment outcome measures. Some studies have, however, demonstrated the effective use of specific tricyclic antidepressants in selected subgroups of substance abusers; for example, desipramine may facilitate initiation of cocaine abstinence, and doxepin may benefit certain opioid addicts. Although imipramine has shown only equivocal success in the treatment of alcoholics, preliminary studies of serotonin uptake inhibitors show some promise in this population. As research design in this field becomes more consistent, future studies may more clearly identify subgroups of chemically dependent patients who respond to specific antidepressant drugs.