Naltrexone as a Treatment for Heroin Dependence and its relationship with Depression

BACKGROUND: our study was aimed to know does Naltrexone used in opioid-dependent patient has any relation with the onset of depression. METHOD-: Naltrexone was given to 30 opioid-dependent patients who had undergone inpatient detoxification with no underlying psychiatric comorbidity at baseline.HAM-D was applied at 2,4,6 weeks post Naltrexone initiation. RESULTS: Our study showed that at 2 weeks, 60% of patients showed depressive symptoms out of which 37% met the criteria for mild depressive disorder and 23% met the criteria for moderate to severe depression. At 6 weeks only 3% of the patients showed improvement in depressive features. CONCLUSION: From our study, we concluded that a positive correlation was found between Naltrexone and Depression in Opioid users.