PSYCHOMOTOR-SKILLS DURING ACUTE AND 2-WEEK TREATMENT WITH MIANSERIN (ORG GB 94) AND AMITRIPTYLINE, AND THEIR COMBINED EFFECTS WITH ALCOHOL

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 9  (2) , 66-72
Abstract
Healthy human volunteers (20) took a placebo, 10 mg of mianserin and 25 mg of amitriptyline 3 times/day for 2 wk each, in a double-blind cross-over manner. There was 1 wk wash-out between the treatments. Several psychomotor tests were done on the 1st, 7th and 14th days of each period with either alcohol (0.5 g/kg) or a placebo drink. Coordinative and reactive skills and critical flicker frequency were affected by all the drug-drink combinations while attention was slightly impaired only after amitriptyline alone or mianserin together with alcohol. Drug actions and drug-alcohol interactions were most obvious on the 1st day but declined towards the end of the drug periods. After mianserin the skills were impaired on the 1st day only, but after amitriptyline up to the 7th day in most of the tests. Both drugs interacted additively with alcohol. Impairment of flicker fusion by amitriptyline + alcohol remained constant over the whole 2-wk period. Psychomotor effects of antidepressants have practical importance in the acute phase of treatment. Their concurrent use with alcohol increases accident risk in traffic.