fayfreethinkers.com

Researchers from the U.K., U.S. and Canada analyzed results for fluoxetine (better known by the brand name Prozac), venlafaxine (Effexor), nefazodone (Serzone) and paroxetine (Paxil or Seroxat) — all members of a class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The researchers' paper, published this week in the journal PLoS Medicine, claims that only patients who are diagnosed "at the upper end of the very severely depressed category" get any meaningful benefit from the widely prescribed drugs. For the others, the paper says, antidepressants are barely more effective than a placebo (although patients suffering from depression, like those suffering from chronic pain, generally do see a substantial placebo benefit).

See here.

I saw this.
Man, we are just a nation of weak, mindless, uninterested idiots who simply whine because of the fact that life ain't always easy. Depression is a very real and valuable part of life (of course I sympathize with the tiny minority of people who have chronic and genuinely debilitating conditions). It's just ironic that in a nation with so much mindless comfort for so many, people are out to get a fix for every percieved difficulty. That's capitalism for you. Consumption just isn't filling those bigger holes. And the quick fix mentality pushed by the market, turns out, to be largely bogus. Many folks in the medical community have been voicing these concerns for a long time. They just can't compete with the Capitalist/profit chorus selling pills for everything.

Tony wrote:Depression is a very real and valuable part of life (of course I sympathize with the tiny minority of people who have chronic and genuinely debilitating conditions).

DOUG
That reminds me of Capt. Kirk in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

A Vulcan went around mind-melding with others and taking away their "pain." Kirk protests that he needs his pain; it makes him who he is.

OK, never mind...

DOUG
That reminds me of Capt. Kirk in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

A Vulcan went around mind-melding with others and taking away their "pain." Kirk protests that he needs his pain; it makes him who he is.

OK, never mind...

Hey, I think I remember that one. I must have stolen it from Capt. Kirk. Damn do gooder Vulcans! heh.

On the other hand (warning: not a scientific or statistical study following), I come from a long line of mostly self-medicating manic-depressives/bi-polars. This isn't a "plug" for single-payer health care, but they couldn't afford official treatment. None of them were on any of the current pharma/popular drugs, so I can't tell you what a placebo would have done for them. Their drugs of choice were either alcohol or pot (depending on the generation). All of the alcohol generation are now deceased. The main thing I noticed about "dosages" required to remain functional in their lives was that none of the ones I actually lived around needed anything at all on the few occasions they got out of cities entirely (as long as they were in a situation that included roof over head and food on table). I think cities are an uncontrolled for element to depression studies.

Antidepressants helped me when prayer and laying on hands didn't. I think that if chronicly depressed people were being helped by the placebo effect we'd see lots of them coming out of depression after being prayed over. Prayer and laying on hands could become an effective treatment, huh? Well prayer didn't work for me and I know that there are many more that had prayer fail for them as well. So, the meds work and prayer does not. I think there's something more than placebo to the meds. Prayer is all placebo. Of course, prayer always has an out. If it didn't work then your faith wasn't strong enough. Meh.

Side note: Many pastors that I have talked to deny that there is such a thing as depression. I was told to stop taking my Paxil by at least 3 pastors. I didn't need the drugs, I needed to get my life right with "The Lard."