Large study proves antidepresants often don't work

Results of the largest study ever of the effectiveness of antidepressants demonstrates conclusively that only about one third of depressant people get relief with the first medication they try. The study of 3,671 patients was reported October 31, 2006 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The studyÕs leader was A. John Rush. It was also found that large numbers of people stop taking medication because they do not like the side effects or get discouraged. For every 100 people getting medication for depression, 21 will give up taking it.
This extensive research study followed the participants for a full year. In that time, it was shown that if the first medication did not work another medication might. In the end, of the people who kept trying one medication after another, about two thirds eventually received help. So it seems that perseverance helps. The study confirmed that it takes, on the average, several weeks for the medication to start working. Many people get discouraged if their depression symptoms do not completely disappear in a day or so, but this study clearly demonstrates that the pills require weeks to reduce symptoms of depression. The authors maintain that these results are probably better than what actually happens in the real world.

So what does this all mean if you are depressed. Depression is one of the most treatable diseases. If one keeps trying one medication after another, about two thirds of people can find relief. Many additional patients could probably be helped by cognitive therapy, which emphasizes correcting negative thought patterns. It might be best to try a popular drug for depression first, as there is a 37% chance that your depression may be completely removed in a few weeks. This large study also shows that it takes several weeks for a particular medicine to give relief. A few may be helped in 24 hours, but most will have to wait a few weeks. Some may have to wait longer. It also definitely helps to keep trying another medicine if the first one fails.

James

James,

From what you say, it seems that this study shows that anti-depressants often do work. A full third of the people involved got relief with the very first drug they tried (and considering how many different AD drugs there are these days, that's pretty good odds right there). Another third found relief after trying a few drugs and another fifth got too discouraged to go through with it, (well, we are talking about depressed people here). So of the people who finished the study, the majority were "helped" and only a small minority (about 2/15ths) weren't helped at all.

In that case, I'd call these anti-depressants, "wonder drugs" which in my experience, they aren't. But they do seem very useful for some people at some times. Such informal research as I've done also seems to indicate that the older tricyclics and even MAO inhibitors work as well, if not better, than the newer SSRIs although the side effects may also be greater.

But depression does seem to be one of the most treatable mental illnesses. Many depressed people find relief through vitamin or nutritional therapy, such substances as 5HTP, Omega 3 fish oils, niacin, phenylalanine, tyrosine have all been found effective... and are substances that people can actually develop deficiencies in.

Gary

Treatable? I'm very sorry, but I've seen more than one case where medication for depression led to a temporally "solution", only to become worse afterwards when people start being depending on the pills.

Apart from that, it's troublesome to see that medication is not only switched but also added to the treatment. When medication works a bit but gives side effects, they get a pill for that side effect. And then another for the side effects of the second pill. In the end, the question is whether the symptoms are due to the depression or illness, or due to the interactions between all the medication.

Medication for depression might be an aid in certain cases where the depression is caused by a malfunctioning of neural pathways. If depression is caused by other factors, I strongly believe that taking medication for it doesn't differ from drinking or smoking pot to feel better : a way of avoiding to face the problem.

kind regards.

I like your comments.

Yes, eventually most got relief. The point is that many people believe that the very first pill they take is going to instantly remove all depression. Usually, one has to keep trying.
James

Over-medication seems to be a major problem in most fields of medicine these days. I've known of people on a dozen different drugs just for heart and high blood pressure - half of the medications to relieve the side effects that the other half caused.
Many doctors hand out these anti-depressants like candy, without fully informing their patients of the possible risks.
It does seem that depressed persons should get some counseling or other professional help to look into the root causes of their depression; Certainly, anti-depressants are not going to be of much use if a person's problems are mainly situational or economic or because they actually have a personality disorder that is causing mental distress. Most of these anti-depressants are not going to do anything for a person who does not have a chemical imbalance to begin with. As far as substances to get "high" on, alcohol and pot work way better than anti-depressants.

But if a person does have a chemical imbalance of the kind that anti-depressants were designed to treat, then such a treatment option might work well. I don't think that it is a good idea to be taking more than two or three different pharmaceuticals at one time anyhow. Most of those drugs are hard on the liver.

And if a person does have a chemical imbalance, it could well be because of a nutritional imbalance. Many depressed people have responded quite well to simple and safe dietary supplements like fish oil with omega3s, niacin, 5HTP, phenylalanine etc. Some people may just need to change their diets to exclude certain foods, or rather non-foods like sugar, white flour, trans-fat and other processed foods as there is quite a bit of evidence linking these foods to depression and ill health in general.

Simple and safe treatments are preferred, but some people may need an anti-depressant... just as people occasionally need an antibiotic to treat an infection.

Gary

It might be interesting to know that the most sold anti-depressant, being Prozac, clearly states on the medical information that :

In clinical studies, antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents with depression and other psychiatric disorders.

Talking about a trade-off...