Methods	Six-week randomised, not blind study.
Participants	Outpatients fulfilling DSM-III-R criteria for major depressive disorder (the SCID had been extended to include all DSM-III-R and DSM-IV melancholic and atypical criteria of depression). Mean age: 31.6 years old. Exclusion criteria: current moderate to severe alcohol or drug dependence, history of mania (hypomanic patients were included), schizophrenia or severe antisocial personality disorder, major physical illness, use of drugs within 2 weeks of study entry (with the exception of oral contraceptive or occasional hypnotic drugs for sleep)
Interventions	Fluoxetine: 100 participants. Nortriptyline : 95 participants. Fluoxetine dose range: 10-80 mg/day. Nortriptyline dose range: 50-175 mg/day.
Outcomes	Primary outcomes: improvement greater than 60% from baseline on the MADRS (response) and 2 months sustained improvement (recovery). Secondary outcomes: Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS-27), SCL-90
Notes	Funding: by industry
Risk of bias
Item	Authors’ judgement	Description
Allocation concealment?	Unclear	B - Unclear