Hidden data 'shows antidepressants hyped'

Antidepressants can be addictive, and the body can develop a tolerance. They can be prescribed with too little information. They can turn an acute problem chronic. People must rely on a medicine that is unnecessary. Once their system has become accustomed to it, they feel depressed without it. A lot of depression treated with drugs is psychological. There are emotional problems that must be dealt with, and an antidepressant can provide a dangerous mask. Often the best cure is close personal contact with someone they can trust. Betrayal can be depressing, as can working for a lifetime and being left with nothing. Or the feeling of failure when 'everyone else' seems to be so successful. A good cure can be people with common experiences sharing them. One of the most crippling aspects of depression is the feeling of isolation. Sometimes all an antidepressant does is provide temporary euphoria. Then it's back down again, often deeper because reality can seem even more cruel.

clipped from www.abc.net.au Best-selling antidepressants are barely more effective than placebos in treating most people with depression, a UK study finds. The research, which analysed 47 clinical trials, breaks new ground by including data not previously released by drug companies that researchers obtained under US freedom of information laws. The findings are prompting some academics and mental health campaigners to question whether people with mild and moderate depression should be prescribed drugs like Prozac, which has been taken by 40 million people worldwide. "The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking antidepressants is not very great," says Professor Irving Kirsch of the University of Hull, "This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments. "Given these results, 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."