The influence of trazodone treatment on cognitive functions in outpatients with major depressive disorder.

Eight patients suffering from major depression were treated with trazodone 150 or 200 mg bid (non-responders) over 5 weeks, preceded and followed by a placebo week. Cognitive functioning was tested in the morning at the end of each treatment week. Before trazodone treatment commenced, patients' cognitive performance was compared with non-depressed controls. The depressed group showed significantly slower reaction times on the memory scanning test, but did not differ from the control group on five other tests including word learning, Critical Flicker/Fusion frequency (CFF), vigilance, tracking and divided attention. CFF threshold decreased significantly during trazodone treatment. CFF returned to its initial baseline level at the end of the placebo withdrawal. During the trazodone treatment period, recall from long-term memory of a previously learnt word list significantly improved, but at the end of the placebo withdrawal period memory performance returned to its initial baseline level. These results indicated that the subchronic influence of trazodone on cognitive functions is at least of a two-dimensional nature: decreased CFF threshold can be interpreted in terms of lowered CNS arousal, whereas a higher cognitive function, memory, improved, possibly related to the relief of depressive symptoms. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]