2.02.2010

The depressing news on antidepressants

is that, apparently, they're no more effective than placebos.

As one who has both experienced depression and known many people who sought treatment for (or otherwise fought) depression, I'm hesitant to believe the figures. The idea is that, in this study, people believed they were getting either antidepressant or placebo, right? So the results led the scientists to believe that antidepressants are only effective because people believe them to be.

On the other hand, there are only two major studies to have concluded this, and their research may not even have a statistically significant sample size.

One thing I agree on is that medication shouldn't be the first or only course of treatment. All treatment should be accompanied by ongoing therapy of some sort. The problem then becomes: how do we get mental health treatment for all who need it? Insurance plans, for those lucky enough to even be insured, often have incomplete to basically-no coverage of mental health care. Moreover, some employers stigmatize mental health care such that it's better to struggle with it internally than get treated and be ineligible for employment.

What's wrong with this picture?

No comments: