Are Antidepressant Drugs Actually Worth Taking?

Raw Data Are Antidepressant Drugs Actually Worth Taking? A psychologist says secret corporate documents show how ineffective the drugs really are. by Ben Harder published online October 10, 2008 et al., published online on February 26 in PLoS Medicine. THE QUESTION Irving Kirsch no longer sends patients to seek out antidepressants. "As a clinical psychologist," he says, "I used to refer patients to colleagues who were psychiatrists to get these medications." But his research over the years has soured him on the drugs, suggesting they work only marginally better in the average patient than a placebo pill. Kirsch recently analyzed the numbers behind a multitude of studies to answer the question: Do antidepressants work? THE METHODS For the analysis, Kirsch and his colleagues were reluctant to rely solely on published drug... [read full story]