Taking Prozac for depression is mostly a waste of time, say scientists

Post by **jones jones** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:10 am

fine time to tell us now! i've spent about a gazillion bucks on this ****!

NEW-GENERATION antidepressants, such as Prozac and Seroxat, are largely a waste of time, research suggests.

A review of clinical trials found that they worked no better than a dummy pill for mildly depressed patients and for most people suffering severe depression.

Even trials suggesting that the drugs helped severely depressed people provided no evidence of clear clinical benefit, the researchers said.

Dr Tim Kendall, the deputy director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' research unit, said the findings were "fantastically important".

The researchers said: "Drug-placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small, even for severely depressed patients.

"The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication."

The researchers said their study was one of the most thorough investigations into the efficacy of new-generation antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors .

The research looked at trials into drugs including antidepressants regularly prescribed in the UK, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor) and paroxetine (Seroxat).

The researchers concluded: "Using complete datasets (including unpublished data) and a substantially larger dataset of this type than has been previously reported, we find that the overall effect of new-generation antidepressant medications is below recommended criteria for clinical significance."

The paper, Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta-Analysis of Data Submitted to the FDA, was published in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine.

Prof Kirsch said: "The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking antidepressants is not very great.

"This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.

"Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe antidepressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed to provide a benefit."

He said: "This study raises serious issues that need to be addressed surrounding drug licensing and how drug trial data is reported."

Dr Kendall echoed the view that the study was important because it looked at both unpublished and published trial data.

WHAT THE DATA SHOWED

EXPERTS analysed 47 clinical trials using data released in the US under freedom of information rules.

They looked at four common antidepressants and the clinical trials submitted to gain licensing approval. They found little evidence of benefit when analysing both unpublished and published data from the drug companies.

Seemingly good results for very severely depressed patients came from a decrease in the patient's response to the placebo, rather than any notable increase in their response to the drugs.

Patsy Warnick · Post by **Patsy Warnick** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:17 am

I was prescribed Prozac after my Husband died

I took myself off them after @ 6 months - I felt Prozac made me more depressed.

I refuse to take meds - alot of meds are a bandaid for the real problem , Doctor's

are pill happy and receive $$$ (kick back) for every prescription.

Ugly cycle

Patsy

Miss Maam · Post by **Miss Maam** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:29 am

The road to where???????~ Dispair!!!!!!!

Benjamin · Post by **Benjamin** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:42 am

Drugs are the wrong approach. People should accept their unpleasant emotions and simply observe them rather than suffer from them. We are not our emotions and we are not our thoughts. As an objective observer of our emotions, they quickly become neutralized and fade away.

Post by **jones jones** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:48 am

Benjamin;784828 wrote: Drugs are the wrong approach. People should accept their unpleasant emotions and simply observe them rather than suffer from them. We are not our emotions and we are not our thoughts. As an objective observer of our emotions, they quickly become neutralized and fade away.

unfortunately chronic depression isn't caused by "unpleasant emotions" ...

Carolly · Post by **Carolly** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:52 am

Natural, wholesome, inexpensive and available over the counter, St John's wort seemed to be the dream remedy for depression. Taken all over the world in huge quantities, it has become the pill to pop without guilt or fear, the herbal Prozac that dusted away the blues nature's way.

The downside is only now emerging. Although studies show that it is effective for mild to moderate depression and two million British people are taking it, you do have to be careful.

The chief drawback is that the remedy, derived from the yellow flowering hedgerow plant, interacts with other drugs causing them to metabolise through the body too quickly. This is obviously very significant for people on the contraceptive pill or the blood-thinning drug warfarin, who are at risk of a stroke.I must admit I have taken it and it did seem to work for me.

Benjamin · Post by **Benjamin** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:12 pm

jones jones;784834 wrote: unfortunately chronic depression isn't caused by "unpleasant emotions" ...

I agree. It is DEFINED as an unpleasant emotional state.

I know that chronic depression must be a tough thing to live with. It's a debilitating condition for many. I'm just saying that being mindful of our unpleasant emotions can help neutralize them.

I read an interview with the Dalai Lama where he was asked his opinion on the treatment of depression. He didn't understand the concept of depression. When you live a mindful life, depression is not comprehensible.

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:36 pm

God that's depressing.

Post by **jones jones** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:20 pm

Patsy Warnick;784795 wrote: I was prescribed Prozac after my Husband died

I took myself off them after @ 6 months - I felt Prozac made me more depressed.

I refuse to take meds - alot of meds are a bandaid for the real problem , Doctor's

are pill happy and receive $$$ (kick back) for every prescription.

Ugly cycle

Patsy

you are 101% correct ... but its like damned if you do damned if you don't ... can't live with them can't live without them ...

medicine and health care is big big business ... big big profits are made when we are ill ... big big losses if we are healthy ... which is not very often ...

Post by **jones jones** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:22 pm

Benjamin;785055 wrote: I agree. It is DEFINED as an unpleasant emotional state.

I know that chronic depression must be a tough thing to live with. It's a debilitating condition for many. I'm just saying that being mindful of our unpleasant emotions can help neutralize them.

I read an interview with the Dalai Lama where he was asked his opinion on the treatment of depression. He didn't understand the concept of depression. When you live a mindful life, depression is not comprehensible.

It is DEFINED as an unpleasant emotional state

you're not whistling dixie there ben! that it is!