And the more adverse reactions and side effects that are seen. I think the bottom line that we all agree on is that the studies that resulted in approval of ssri’s were woefully inadequate in regards to efficacy and risk.
Now we as a society are forced to face problem of millions of people on a drug that was prescribed based on flawed, or at best, misinterpreted data.
What is going to be needed now is a revelation of the needs of those who want to get off these drugs. If people discontinue these drugs without a full understanding of how devastating withdrawal can be, there is going to be a HUGE problem.
So while we have the current information on lack or overstatement, of efficacy, we have not even started to deal with the withdrawal that people are facing.

http://secundumartem.blogspot.com/2008/02/some-depressing-news.html

He points out that the articles do no indicate that all of the studies that were examined only studied effects for 6-8 weeks. Thus, the meta research indicates that placebo is 80% as effective as SSRIs in the short term. According to other studies (see the linked blog article he provides a link), the longer the study runs, the more distance grows between placebo and SSRI.

I couldn’t agree more..

The other reality is that exercise, good eating habits and a healthy dose of spirituality (connectedness and a friendly social network) can have a positive impact on all sorts of diseases. Recently a young gentlemen I know was “arbitrarily” put on a cholesterol drug but never received any information on the role of diet and exercise. In fact he wasn’t even given a choice.

So, what you are saying about anti depressants is true for some other drugs as well.

Additionally, you may be interested in looking at the fantastic research that is going on in the area of epigenetics. There is much that we are learning about our environment, food, air water and emotions that impacts our DNA. We are not what we seem and we can change ourselves.

This is a critical point for many of the reasons that you already raised. If we continue to be fed these drugs that in fact are useless in most cases, then we are also interfering with our bodies ability to heal itself. This creates another “dependency” on yet other drugs to correct the problem caused by the first drug.

There are some “good” drugs out there, but there are very few drugs that can stand on their own, which speaks volumes.

We need to foster a more holistic approach to health care. Drugs alone are not the answer. Many doctors rely on drugs to make their jobs easier. They would argue that they do not have the time to educate the patient. Others argue, patients cannot afford the time that would be necessary. It is just so much easier to use the ol’ “take two asprins and call me in the morning” approach than doing their job. Apologies to any doctor out there who does take the time, but know that you are in the small (and rapidly shrinking) minority.

I think what we have learned this week with anti depressants should serve as the “watershed” for many other drugs.

The opportunity created this week is for us to help put research back on track and focused on obejctives and goals that can truly deliver benefits and results to patients and doctors.

We need to seize this opportunity…

Does that sound mild to you? Granted, I’m taking her at her word and perhaps she does or does not have mild depression.

My point was that the study is talking about the effects of SSRIs on mild depression. You cannot automatically extrapolate that into other degrees of depression.

Others who are advocating meditation and yoga for severe depression are ignoring the fact that you have to get the person to the point that they can move, express and feel. I’m not advocating medication alone, and I agree that far too many docs have thrown pills at people too easily. We Americans seem to be stuck on the idea that a “magic pill” can make everything go away. It doesn’t work like that and our society needs to get clued in that life isn’t always going to be comfortable. But medication can change the person’s chemistry to where they *can* do the work.

I’ve experienced effects that were not helpful, I’ve experienced helpful reactions and I’ve experienced meds that had 0 effect. I’ve witnessed the same in others. If it was all a placebo reaction, shouldn’t I have had the same result no matter what the medication?

Most of us that work in pharma aren’t the evil bastards that you paint us to be. Those of us that do research for pharmaceutical companies have little or no influence over how our drugs are marketed.