Good summary post, with many nice links from Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry on the effectiveness of anti-depressants. The news is that antidepressants are not that much more effective than Placebo according to a recent review of the literature. Here is the summary of the data:
- Mild to moderate depression: Effect size of d = .11, which is tiny (and was not statistically significant)
- Severe depression: Effect size of d = .17, which is pretty darn small (and not statistically significant)
- Very severe depression: Effect size of d = .47, which is moderate.
When you take these results along the research showing that exercise and placebo are both just about as good at treating depression, without some of those pesky sexual side-effects, it makes you wonder why we anti-depressants are the most widely prescribed drug in the the united states. Or why doctor’s prescribe them for nearly all patients seeking help with depression?
Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact antidepressants sales account for nearly over $10,000,000,000 dollars a year? Or the fact that drug companies spend over a $100,000,000 dollars a year marketing directly to consumers.