The new meta-analysis of antidepressant trials adds to a decade of increased scepticism about the effectiveness of these blockbuster drugs.
In a 2002 paper ‘The Emperor’s new drugs’, the psychologist Irving Kirsch and others analysed studies (many unpublished) submitted to the FDA in pursuit of marketing approval for antidepressants.
Kirsch found that while there was a statistically significant advantage for antidepressants over placebo, that advantage was of dubious clinical relevance. At the time the paper, published in an online-only journal, attracted little attention in mainstream psychiatry.
Then in 2008 Kirsch published a paper in PLoS Medicine which concluded that while there might be a small benefit from antidepressants for very severely depressed patients, there was no clinically meaningful advantage for those less severely...
This site is intended for Registered Medical Practitioners.
To make the most of Psychiatry Update, you need to be logged in.