A Review on Assessment and Treatment for Depression in Malaysia

Table 2

Studies on the treatment of depression in Malaysia.

Study	Disorder or problem	Ethnicity (𝑛)	Gender (𝑛)	Design	Intervention	Duration of treatment	Outcome measure	Treatment result (+ve/−ve)
(8) Woon and Teoh [24]	Depression with hysterical personality disorder	Chinese (𝑛=1)	Female (𝑛=1)	Case study	Psychodynamic therapy and amitriptyline	1 year and 5 months	NA	Positive
(9) Ong and Lee [25]	Depressive neurosis and manic depressive	Malay (𝑛=9) Chinese (𝑛=6) Indian (𝑛=2)	Male (𝑛=6) Female (𝑛=11)	RCT	Nomifensine and amitriptyline	9 weeks	HDRS; Global clinical parameter	Positive with few adverse effects
(10) Indran [26]	Depression (12) Dysthymia (3) Anxiety (3) Bipolar (1) Schizophrenia (1) (Outpatient)	Malays (𝑛=4) Indian (𝑛=5) Chinese (𝑛=8) Others (𝑛=3)	Male (𝑛=9) Female (𝑛=11)	RCT	Moclobemide	6 weeks	HDRS; CGI; PGI	Positive with few adverse effects
(11) Azhar and Varma [27]	Depression	Malays (𝑛=64)	NA	RCT	Religious psychotherapy+ supportive therapy	15–20 sessions	HDRS	Positive
(12) Razali [28]	Depression	Malay (𝑛=2)	Male (𝑛=1) Female (𝑛=1)	Case study	Dothiepin and maprotiline	3 month and 1 month	NA	Positive
(13) Razali et al. [29]	Depression (𝑛=100) and anxiety (𝑛=103)	Malays (𝑛=203)	NA	RCT	Religious psychotherapy+ supportive therapy + benzodiazepines or antidepressants	26 weeks	HARS; HDRS	Positive
(14) Razali and Hasanah [30]	Depression (Outpatient)	Malay (𝑛=82)	NA	RCT	Amitriptyline, imipramine, dothiepin and maprotiline	8 weeks	HDRS	Positive
(15) Razali [31]	Masked Depression (Outpatient)	Malay (𝑛=1)	Female (𝑛=1)	Case Study	Dothiepin	6 weeks	NA	Positive
(16) Ng and Stevens [32]	Depression	Malaysian Chinese (𝑛=13); others (𝑛=32)	Male (𝑛=6) Female (𝑛=8)	RCT	Sertraline (SSRI)	6 weeks	HDRS; CGI; LUNSERS; Plasma measurement	Positive with few adverse effects
(17) Azhar et al.	Depression (Outpatient)	𝑛=96	NA	RCT	CBT + ESCCBT + STRCBT + FXT	12 weeks	HADS; BDI; WHO-QOL	Positive; CBT + ESC show better
(18) Mukhtar et al. [33]	Depression (Outpatient)	Malays (𝑛=113)	Male (𝑛=51) Female (𝑛=62)	RCT	GCBT + TAUTAU	8 sessions; 1 month	ATQ; DAS	Positive and maintained at 3 and 6 month followups

Note: KEY to intervention (alphabetical order): Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (GCBT); Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI); Escitalopram (ESC); Sertraline (STR); Fluoxetine (FXT); Treatment-as-Usual (TAU)Note: KEY to measures (alphabetical order): Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); Clinical Global Impression (CGI); Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS); Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS); Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS); Liverpool University Neuroleptic Side-effect Rating Scale (LUNSERS); Patients Global Improvement (PGI).