article thumbnail

Two Out of Three Find Antidepressant Effects Not Worth Burdens

Mad in America

The study, titled “Estimating the smallest worthwhile difference of antidepressants: a cross-sectional survey,” delves into the challenging decisions faced by individuals considering SSRI and SNRI antidepressants, which are common treatments for depression. Only a third of patients are satisfied with these medications.

article thumbnail

Placebo Effect—Not Antidepressants—Responsible for Depression Improvement

Mad in America

In a study of fluoxetine (Prozac) for adolescents, researchers found that the placebo effect predicted good outcomes, but the actual drug treatment did not. After accounting for “treatment guess” (those who figured out that they were receiving an intervention rather than placebo), the drug was not effective in depression treatment.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Stop Using Antidepressants Except for “the Most Severe Depression,” Experts Say

Mad in America

Take, for instance, a recent meta-analysis finding that exercise is just as good as antidepressants at treating mild to moderate depression —and that adding drugs to the regimen does not improve outcomes.

article thumbnail

Winding Back the Clock: What If the STAR*D Investigators Had Told the Truth?

Mad in America

However, there was recognition within the NIMH that that the industry-funded trials didn’t necessarily provide evidence of the efficacy of antidepressants in real-world patients, which prompted it to launch the STAR*D study, touting it as the “largest and longest study ever done to evaluate depression treatment.”

article thumbnail

It’s You, It’s Not Me: Treatment Resistant Depression and the Psychiatric Breakup

Mad in America

It is undeniable that it has been helpful for the pharmaceutical industry, which continues to grow yearly, and as of 2022, the antidepressant market has reached $17.02 The eighties and nineties were a depression-treatment renaissance. The same authors updated this study in 2022 where they examined another thirty drug trials.

article thumbnail

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 16: Is There Any Future for Psychiatry? (Part Five)

Mad in America

667 In an NIMH study of 547 patients that compared six-year outcomes for depressed people treated for the disorder and those who eschewed medical treatment, the treated patients were three times more likely than untreated ones to suffer a cessation of their principal social role and nearly seven times more likely to become incapacitated.