Study Says Antidepressants are Not Much Better than Placebos for Mild/Moderate Depression

When I read this article, the first question that popped into my mind was, “why are so many people taking psych drugs?” If the placebos are doing better, why not prescribe them instead? Recently in the news with this article about antidepressants not working for major depression, and the answer was to approve another drug to add on to the drug one is already taking for depression, so in this case we have antidepressants not working for major depression too.

SEROQUEL XR(R) FDA Approved For Add-On Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder

If you have generalized anxiety, there’s now approval to prescribe Seroquel XR.

Cymbalta(R) Gets FDA Approval For Treatment of Generalized Anxiety ...

How did we deal with depression and anxiety before drugs I ask? Perhaps I’m not a good example being I have never taken any psych drugs so I sit here with a big question mark wondering if we really need all the pills, or if placebos can do the trick instead, as they all have some kind of side effects that come along for the ride too. I wonder too if antidepressants are not working for the mild and moderate cases, are they working well enough for the major depression symptoms too, or is that going to end up being a “pill cocktail” in order to treat patients. One more pill can add some new side effects too.

Placebo Effect Success Growing Stronger – Pharma Wants to Know Why

Placebos must be cutting into the profits somewhere along the line (grin). BD

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Antidepressants including those made by London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc may be no better than a placebo for people with mild or moderate depression, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In a review of six trials of antidepressants involving more than 700 patients, researchers led by Jay Fournier from the University of Pennsylvania found the drugs helped only those patients with the most severe forms of the disorder. Most trials excluded patients with milder depression, the authors said.

Antidepressants Don’t Help Those With Mild Disorder, Study Says - BusinessWeek