Antidepressants: Are They Necessary?
March 3rd, 2008 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Antidepressant medications like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft have become almost as common as bread and butter — but are depression rates rising, or are these medications just being overprescribed to people who donât really need them?
A new study suggests despite the high rates of prescriptions, antidepressants only help patients suffering from severe depression. British researchers wanted to see if a patientâs response to antidepressants depends on how badly depressed they are. To do so, they reviewed clinical trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for four of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants. Before antidepressants are be approved by the FDA, clinical trials must be conducted to evaluate their effectiveness.
Irving Kirsch, a professor at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, and his colleagues found the only clinically significant evidence that antidepressants work was seen in the small group of patients who were the most extremely depressed.
âAlthough patients get better when they take antidepressants, they also get better when they take a placebo, and the difference in improvement is not very great,â Kirsch was quoted as saying. âThis means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.â
Researchers say before prescribing antidepressants, doctors should confirm alternative treatments did not work for a patient.
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know byclicking here.
SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, 2008;5:e45:doi:10.1371