Vol. 9, No. 4, 2003 Page 6
Researchers measuring testosterone levels in 54 depressed men who failed to respond to antidepressant treatment discovered that 24 of the men had low or borderline testosterone. They recruited 22 of the men for a second study, in which 12 applied a testosterone gel every day for eight weeks, while 10 received a placebo. At the end of the study, the researchers report, all of the men receiving testosterone treatment reported feeling significantly better, when compared to those who did not receive active treatment. "These preliminary findings," the authors say, "suggest that testosterone gel may produce antidepressant effects in the large and probably underrecognized population of depressed men with low testosterone levels."
"Testosterone gel supplementation for men with refractory depression: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial," H. G. Pope, G. H. Cohane, G. Kanayama, A. J. Siegel, and J. I. Hudson, American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 160, No. 1, January 2003, 105-11. Address not listed.