The results of the TRH test and the DST point to similar endocrinological patterns in alcoholics as in depressive patients and thus support the hypothesis of a link between alcoholism and depression.
These results suggest that in male mice GHRH deficiency brings about an increased physical activity and decreased anxiety- and depression-related behaviour, possibly related to increased TRH and decreased NE levels in the brain.
The early-onset dysthymics showed a higher number of persons who had never married, who presented a more traumatic and frustrating childhood background, and who had a higher rate of DST non-suppressors and blunted TSH responses after TRH administration during the period of their double depression.