Study: Antidepressants don't work for most patients
Posted 10 hours ago by David Silverberg in Health | 8 comments | 238 views


Antidepressants are ineffective for most patients who suffer from depression, a new study claims. The study’s authors say depressed patients can improve their moods without chemical treatments such as Prozac or Effexor.

Digital Journal — A breakthrough analysis of Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) found that best-selling antidepressants aren’t more effective than placebos. University of Hull researchers say antidepressants “have no clinically significant effects in all cases apart from a small group of the most severely depressed patients.”

In a released statement, Professor Irving Kirsch, from the Psychology department at the University of Hull, said: “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking antidepressants is not very great. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.”

The study, published in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine, questions the logic of prescribing drugs such as Prozac, which has been used by 40 million people worldwide. This study is taking aim at popular drugs thanks to its unique methodology — researchers incorporated data not previously released by drug companies, which they obtained through American freedom of information laws. The team found published and unpublished studies, allowing them to conduct meta-analysis of all clinical trials. If they hadn’t gone this route, they would have had to rely on published studies which may be filled with selective reporting due to sponsoring parties.

The Hull report is essentially implying that patients may feel better after taking antidepressants simply because they believe they are taking something effective. The placebo effect is gaining some credence, even among the drug companies: The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry admits a placebo effect could be applicable in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate depression.

And as Kirsch wrote in the study’s release:
There seems little reason to prescribe antidepressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed to provide a benefit.
Since their rise to fame, antidepressants have since faced a rocky road to prosperity. Various reports have concluded that some antidepressants can fuel suicidal thoughts, while other studies have found that SSRIs can kill feelings of love. It seems that every month brings us news of antidepressants’ risks. And while medication for severe depression is obviously warranted, these studies should make people rethink how over-medication is running rampant in today’s pill-popping society.


http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/2 ... t_patients

Quite polemic subject, I've always disliked the "they have a chemical inbalance, so you have to pity them and accept their depression" line of thought.

Medication has it's place and can serve a very useful purpose, but nothing works as well as proper therapy.

a therapist years back told me that a combination of medicine and therapy works best for the most depressed, and that i was very depressed but not at the lowest level one can go. which, i didn't want medicine anyway. so it worked out well. therapy really did work well.

I think they usually work very well until your body begins to develop a tolerance for them, then not so much

Cognitive therapy seems to work the best to me.

interestingly enough, i believe i recall that therapist saying the drugs help you along in feeling things are getting better, with lows not being as low -- not exactly make you feel better.

i hate articles like this because i think it will discourage people who really can benefit from medication. yes, severely depressed people are most able to be helped by anti-depressants...they're the ones who are supposed to be prescribed the meds, so duh

meds alone cannot be as helpful as therapy, some behavior mod, learning to deal with your emotions, express them in healthy ways, etc. etc. but in a very depressed person, we are talking about a chemical imbalance and medication can help that;

Donny, You're Out Of Your Element!

I think the problem is there are a number of people (or parents that get pills for their kids) that just take the antidepressants and never address the underlying issues. It has become the easy thing to do, "don't confront your problems, take this and hope they go away." I do not doubt that there are a number of people with chemical imbalances, but I do believe that number is exaggerated.

It would seem that the therapy element is what allows people to confront their issues, and discover what they are.

It's true if you take the pity out. A biochemical imbalance is always present in depressed people.
Meds don't work without therapy this is true and pretty much an accepted theory.

it's been covered heavily here so here's what I gathered:

they did several studied that showed that placebo is just as effective as those drugs in most patients.

it means that THINKING you're taking a drug that will help is actually what helps, not the chemical compounds in the drug.
So they are 'effective'..in the sense they make you feel better.. but then so would be eating a jelly bean.
Problem is doctors are not allowed to prescribe placebos..

I believe Depression is like ADHD and Dyslexia.. a fashionable, responsibility-free 'disease'.
there are some people that genuinely suffer from them and need serious medical and/or psychological help.
But the vast majority of 'sufferers' are just jumping on the bandwagon: because it is fashionable, because it means they don't have to take responsibility for their/their kids own action, because they can get a quick drug fix..

This is encouraged by medias, doctors and pharmaceutical companies and it's doing a big disservice to those much more serious, 'real', cases.

now it doesn't mean that those people/parents don't need some help.. but mostly not necessarily medical/chemical one though, probably more social..

Plus the fact that many of those Psy drugs have serious side effects!

well said, dear tryin

though i will add that being more chemically balanced from meds will help the therapy process

That's a big mess P.! What you are describing are all in one way or another symptoms.
You do have a point with calling it "fashionable" but that's a worrying thing.
Depression can be very unpredictable. What you call "jumping on the bandwagon" can turn in something very serious.

i agree with this. there is no magic pill to fix underlying problems.

I was very anti-medication for a very long time. But I think it does absolutly have it's place. Therapy alone never stopped my panic attacks. I learned to manage, I learned their triggers and symptoms. But at the same time, when I had one, there was no choice, and I felt like I was going to die for up to an hour, followed by a completely draining exhaustion.
Finally I relented to medication - a mild sedative that I only take as needed. Now, if I feel one coming on, I take a pill. 15 minutes later, I am normal again. No sickness, no side effects, no crash afterwards.

It was very hard to accept for me, but it worked. So not everything can be cured with therapy. Sometimes, there are physical reasons, the brain goes into over-drive and if medication can help, it should be given the chance.

The Zoloft, Welbutrin, there's Paxil that's proven no side effects...but the rest left unnamed because they work like a charm on me.

I've got this post-traumatic thing...this tatoo of a ring...around my wedding finger, that's where I want to state this claim...that I've got to learn to live and dream before I go and get myself in love.