Study followed appearance and treatment of depressive disorder at the patients with opiates dependency on methadone maintenance treatment.

Presenting frequency, time of appearance and pharmacology treatment of depressive disorder. Depression was verified by psychological testsing. Applied technics were: interview, MMPI, PIE, Mahover test, WAIS, Rorschach test.

The study covered 154 patients on methadone maintenance treatment. 45 (29%) patients had depressive disorder which required pharmacology treatment. Illness was more frequent at female patients comparing with male (35% to 27%). Patients mostly started to use antidepresive drugs approximately three months after they had stopped with heroine use. Sertaline was a drug of first choice used in 30 patients, then Fluoxetine in 7 patients. Improvement of patients’ condition has been indicated by patients’ own reports, higher level of their functionality (social, working functionality) and retest results (lower T score of D scale, MMPI; lower score of emocional dimension Deprivation, PIE).

Significant appearance of depression was noticed in heroine users on methadone maintenance treatment. Illness was usually diagnosed in period of stabilization, after establishing heroin abstinence. So it is recommended to pay attention on patients in period of stabilization and treat with antidepresives if it is necessary.

• Jeff W, Richard P. M, Wayne H. Methadone maintenance treatment and other opioid replacement therapies, 1997.

• Domenic A. C, Richard I S, Pharmacotherapy of Depression, 2008.