Research study says Antidepressant drugs don’t work

ok ita all over the uk news and papers today saying Antidepressent don't work see below!
i think they can help in some situations

what you all think?

New-generation antidepressants such as Prozac work no better than dummy pills on many depressed people, new research suggests.

A review of clinical trials found they had no more effect than a placebo for mildly depressed patients and for most people suffering severe depression.

Even trials suggesting benefit for severely depressed people did not provide evidence of clear clinical benefit, research- ers said.

Dr Tim Kendall, deputy director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit, said the findings were "fantastically important".

A group of experts, led by Professor Irving Kirsch, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Hull, analysed 47 clinical trials using data released under Freedom of Information rules by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The researchers looked at four commonly-used antidepressants and the clinical trials submitted to gain licensing approval.

They included antidepressants regularly prescribed in the UK, including fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor) and paroxetine (Seroxat).

They found little evidence of benefit when analysing both unpublished and published data from the drug companies.

Furthermore, the seemingly good results for very severely depressed pat- ients came from the fact a patient's response to the dummy pill decreased rather than any notable increase in their response to antidepressants.

"Drug-placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients," the researchers said.

The researchers said their study was one of the most thorough investigations into the efficacy of new generation antidepressants.

The research was published in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine.

They're not saying the drugs ARE placebo, but that they generally don't work any better than placebo.

Many of these studies had been swept under the carpet and not published because they had shown negative results. It was only thanks to recent freedom of information acts that these researchers gained access to them.

I've been telling people for quite a while that studies can be biased and flawed, and that the studies which are published are cherry-picked. I've been called paranoid over and over. I also know many people who had no benefit from the drugs and whose lives were made hell by them.

I wasn't going to talk about this here because I had no desire to stir things up. But since someone else mentioned it . . . it has to be said that this story all over the place in the mainstream media brightened my morning. Finally the truth is starting to come out.

Hi, I tend to agree with PurpleIvy, me I am 55 year old male,I have had symptoms of sad ? for the last 15 years, the last two years have been horrendous, as all of you out there can appreciate! I have 10,000 lux Light box. got away with sad three years ago did,nt help the last two years.Familiar with the treatment with anti-depressants, really did not want to go down that road, tried it years ago.Went to see a new GP very switched on and very understanding, started citalopram again, and took it one step further, discussed further options,so far as seeing a psychiatrist, last resort,suicidal by then,seen him three times,I am very wary of their diagnosis ?, as I feel that I am the expert on myself, especially when it comes down to sad.I have been encouraged to take citalopram, which I need to add works for me, with still using a light box, it seems a lot better to date.I do believe anti-depressants can be beneficial, the one thing the psychiatrist did promote was to check out how they work, these particular an-depressants,seem to be in the family belonging to SSRI,S? the information I found on the internet helped my acceptance of being comfortable in what I was prescribed, which in turn gave me a sense of empowerment, my conclusion is, that a lot had to do with my serotonin levels, which mine seemed to be at an all time low, their does seem to be a very marked difference for me, it does seem to depend on what dosage you may be prescribed and yes they can have side effects,and may not suit every one, I do feel lucky to have a good GP and even a decent guy who is a psychiatrist who actually listens to me and monitors my progress. It really comes down to what you as individuals out there feel comfortable with and what is good for you,for myself I do keep an open mind, biggest challenge for me at the moment is SAD! and to get through the winter and hope we get loads and loads of blue sky and very warm sunshine which can sink into your bones! maxak8

thanks for your reply Donna,I am pleased for you, that you do feel that you are getting something of value from taking Citalpram, the most important thing for anyone,to me, is that, if they do realise that they may be suffering from symptoms of SAD,is to hold onto that, the medical profession may diagnose a person with depression, all I can say to that,is the bit, about what comes first the chicken or the egg,it is so easy for the medical profession to label things and put things into boxes.The reason I feel it is important to be aware of how you feel, is to me the psychiatrist I saw felt after the first session, that I was,nt suffering from the symptoms of SAD,it was to do with depression,fortunately for me I deal with people that know of me in a different light, which enabled me to be grounded in how I felt in myself.If people, like myself go and see someone in the medical profession,feeling very vulnerable at that particular time,will trust the medical professions diagnosis about how I am feeling as a person, may take it on board to be very detrimental to the acceptance of one,s self.Sorry to those people out there which may feel that my response is a bit heavy, all I can say to that, feeling suicidal, that there is no sunshine and no physical warmth, I actually find, I question what is going on in myself and after all is this site I believe is dedicated to fellow sufferers of SAD,and the medical profession, who sometimes may be generous to accept the individuals own diagnosis of themselves and what they feel, can offer,sometimes very little. All I can offer to you Donna, is to believe in what you feel about your self, and trust in that, especially if you! feel that whatever works for you, believe in it.I wish you well and I whole heartedly agree in what you say about mental well-being, it is very much under-rated.Good luck Donna, and every success in how you feel about your self, stick with it,thank you for sharing that. maxak8.