Patient description: A 46-year-old Asian woman with MDD complains of persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in daily activities. She states that her mood is still depressed most of the days. She complains of loss of energy and feelings of worthlessness nearly every day. She is on anti-depressants for the past 6 months, but the symptoms are still present. She does not drink alcohol or smoke. She used to exercise every day for at least 30 min., but she doesn't have enough energy to do so for the past 3 weeks. She also has some digestive issues recently. She is married and has 4 children. She is menopausal. Her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer a year ago and is undergoing chemotherapy. Her past medical history is unremarkable. Her family history is negative for any psychologic problems. Her HAM-D score is 20.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 18.0-85.0,  Pruritus Patients w/ histologically confirmed mycosis fungoides stage IB to IVA eligible to receive oral vorinostat Patients w/ stage IB to IV reporting pruritus Patients age 18-85 years, of any race, sex, and ethnicity Life expectancy > 24 weeks Patient must have performance status of ≤2 on the ECOG Performance Scale Patients w/ a min. of 3 weeks since their last systemic treatment Women who are not pregnant, lactating, or of childbearing potential Female patients w/ reproductive potential must use an adequate contraceptive method during treatment and for three months after completing treatment Male patient w/ reproductive potential, agrees to use an adequate method of contraception for the duration of the study and for 30 days beyond the duration of study Patients, or legal representative must to be willing to adhere to the protocol, and sign an Informed Patient Consent Form prior to entry into the study  Patients w/ a recent cardiac history, such as a myocardial infarct within the last year, uncontrolled angina, severe uncontrolled ventricular arrhythmias, clinically significant pericardial disease, or electrocardiographic evidence of acute ischemic or active conduction system abnormalities Patients w/ a history of liver damage (2.5 x normal ALT, AST), leukopenia, or thrombocytopenia Women who are pregnant or nursing a child Patients w/ severe emotional, behavioral or psychiatric problems that, in the opinion of the investigator, would result in poor compliance with the treatment regimen Patients who have received and histone deacetylase inhibitor within the last 6 months Patients receiving valproic acid will be excluded unless there has been a wash-out period of 30 or more days Patients who will have received systemic therapy, radiation therapy or phototherapy within 3 weeks prior to initial dosing with study drugs or who has not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 3 weeks earlier QTc prolongation greater than 500ms Patient w/ a "currently active" second malignancy, other than non-melanoma skin cancer and carcinoma in situ of the cervix, should not be enrolled Patients are not considered to have a "currently active" malignancy if they have completed therapy for a prior malignancy, are disease free from prior malignancies for >5 years or are considered by their physician to be at less than 30% risk of relapse