In a study published in PLoS Medicine today, psychologists at the University of Hull in the UK, found that antidepressants have no clinically significant effects in all cases apart from a small group of the most severely depressed patients. Their analysis showed that in comparison to placebo effects, antidepressants do not have clinically significant effects in mildly depressed patients or in most patients who suffer from very severe depression. Furthermore, the apparent clinical effectiveness of antidepressants in the small group of extremely depressed patients is somewhat distorted. The seemingly good result came from fact that these patients’ response to the placebo decreased, rather than any notable increase in their response to antidepressants.
Is this just one more case of overmedication due to irrespossible advertising and the need of doctors to "do something"?
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