Study	Reason for exclusion
Belanoff 2001	Only 4 days of treatment
Bellini 1994	25% bipolar participants (in each group, 3 bipolar participants) The study author did not respond to our request for additional information
Blasey 2009	Impossible to compare 1 defined pharmacological treatments
Blasey 2011	In addition to study medication (mifepristone or placebo), all patients received an antidepressant but not as standardised treatment (i.e. not the same antidepressant for each patient and not at a fixed dose and duration). Thus, the antidepressant may have obscured the effect of mifepristone
Block 2017	In addition to study medication (mifepristone or placebo), all patients received an antidepressant but not as standardised treatment (i.e. not the same antidepressant for each patient and not at a fixed dose). Thus, the antidepressant may have obscured the effect of mifepristone
Block 2018	In addition to study medication (mifepristone or placebo), all patients received an antidepressant but not as standardised treatment (i.e. not the same antidepressant for each patient and not at a fixed dose and duration). Thus, the antidepressant may have obscured the effect of mifepristone
Cassacchia 1984	'Unipolar psychotic depression' is probably 'manic depressive psychosis, depressive type' (ICD9). This is not the same as 'psychotic depression' Number of bipolar participants is not clear Dropouts not in results. It is not possible to extract ITT response data Reasons for exclusion: unclear diagnosis, number of bipolar participants unclear, ITT data not available
Davidson 1981	Reasons for exclusion: unclear diagnosis and short treatment period
DeBattista 2006	Impossible to compare 2 defined pharmacological treatments. 48.3% + 12.9% = 61.2% HAMD response with placebo after 1 week
Ebert 1997	Randomisation not adequate; open study
Flores 2006	Impossible to compare 2 defined pharmacological treatments and treatment only for 7 days
Friedman 1966	No comparable diagnostic procedure. No data about MDD subgroup Dropouts have been excluded
Künzel 2008	No ITT data; bipolar participants 17.5% in per‐protocol data; continued treatment with lithium, valproic acid
Malison 1999	Only 3 psychotic participants
McLaughlin 1969	Diagnosis unclear
Müller 1998	In this subgroup, no data are given about responders, bipolar participants, and dropouts The study author did not respond to our request for additional information
Navarro 2001	Citalopram vs nortriptyline Subgroup with 9 psychotic depressive episodes Reason for exclusion: this subgroup was also treated with haloperidol. No data available for this subgroup are available The study author did not respond to our request for additional information
Nelson 1984	Unknown from data in which group the responders are located (imipramine or ami). So comparison is impossible
Spiker 1982	Pre‐published data from the 1985 study
Zanardi 1998	30.5% bipolar participants

HAMD: Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

ITT: intention‐to‐treat.

MDD: major depressive disorder.