[Dynamics of clinical hormonal indices in patients with reactive depressions].

Using radioimmunoassay the authors studied the patterns of plasma levels of cortisol, insulin, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine in patients with acute and protracted reactive depressions. The patients had higher cortisol levels and lower immunoreactivity of the other three hormones as compared to a group of healthy donors. Patients with acute depressions had higher values of cortisol than those with protracted ones. The treatment tended to normalize the hormonal parameters which was parallelled by positive clinical dynamics. Patients with protracted reactive depressions were more resistant to the conducted therapy. Concentrations of plasma hormones (with the exception of insulin) at the end of the treatment remained altered as compared to those in healthy subjects.