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Depression is often portrayed as a brain disease – the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Most people are unaware that there is little direct evidence for the chemical imbalance theory. Instead, it is based largely on the supposed effectiveness of antidepressant medication.
If changes in neurotransmission can cure depression, it was argued, then depression could be due to a malfunctioning brain.
However, the effects of antidepressants are not that great – they are not dose-dependent (a small dose of Prozac is just as effective as a large dose) and drugs with different chemical effects produce the same results. This suggests that the benefits of antidepressants are not due to their specific chemical activity.
If therapeutic benefits of antidepressants are not due to their chemical composition, this casts doubt on current biochemical theories of depression.
Antidepressants may be of specific benefit to the most severely depressed patients, but for most, the response to antidepressant drugs is largely placebo.
Fortunately, there are many alternative treatments that have been found to be effective in controlled clinical research. In particular, psychotherapy has been found to be as effective in the short run and more effective in the long run.
Irving Kirsch is a professor of psychology and specialist on the placebo effect at the University of Hull in England. He is author of the The Emperor's New Drugs.
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Drug Warnings
It seems to me that when the maker states that
using this product may INCREASE or CREATE SUICIDAL Thoughts,
as well as cause a litany of physical ailments such as
the inability to complete bodily discharge functions
( which is enough to depress the most strong willed people )
bleeding eyeballs , persistent ringing in the ears ,
hallucinations, sleepwalking , and halitosis, sudden heart attack
well, an alarm bell should be ringing to the patient
that , " maybe , I'm not so depressed after all "
and " do I really need this product?"
and why do they advertise it so much?
Anti Depressants
I wonder if the writer of the article has had direct first hand experience of serious clinical depression, and the great alleviation that SSRI's can bring about ? It is really insulting to suggest that placebos could have the same effect when one feels that they cannot control their depressive thoughts. (The "black dog"). Would anyone suggest that placebos could have the same effect as antibiotics? Is it to be denied that serotonin and other chemicals in the brain play an important role in mood and mental states. SSRI's act to increase serontin levels. Of course there may be side effects and in an ideal world people would be able to work through their problems without drugs. We all have problems in life and most of them are overcome this way. But there are some situations in life where people are trapped, where people are exhausted or there is no one to help.(EG Single mother of severely autistic child.) In these situations, anti anxiety or anti depressant medication can be life-saving.