Posted by mattdds on February 9, 2003, at 17:15:36
In reply to Anti_depressants little more than placebos?, posted by fuzzymind on February 9, 2003, at 16:35:58
I have had similar experiences with antidepressants. I also am familiar with these recently posed questions regarding their efficacy.
30-50% of people respond to placebos during any given trial. Even the better studies (from big pharmacy's point of view) only do marginally better than this. I imagine there are lots of studies that have been done (but not released), which do not show favorable results at all. Also, there is a flat dose-response curve to antidepressants, which seems fishy.
Personally, I can't imagine any drug which would solve depression. It seems way too complex a phenomenon to respond to a simple shotgun approach like "cranking up" the serotonin, or any other neurotransmitter for that matter.
Parenthetically, I do think that anxiety (and anxiolytics) is a different story. The benzos, for example show a clear superiority over placebo. Furthermore, anyone who has taken a benzo knows they have quite obvious calming effects.
This is kinda scary to me, to think that we (presumably) are still stuck in this effete monoamine hypothesis paradigm. Believe it or not, Pharm companies are still looking for more selective serotonin reuptake drugs, or other quasi-scientific ways of tweaking neurotransmitters. I hope consumers become aware of this problem, because as long as we seem happy with them (taking them without obvious benefit), pharm companies are more than happy to keep making more Lexapro's.
Keep in mind I'm not blaming pharm companies or anyone in particular. Nor am I "anti-med", much to the contrary, I long for a day when we have effective treatments for depression, pharmacological or otherwise. This is also just my opinion, and if people derive obvious benefit from SSRI's, GREAT! I am just not convinced they are very specific or effective treatments for depression, in general.
There's my rant! I don't mean to dash hopes or ruin anyone's placebo response. But I feel the truth is our ally, not avoiding the problem and pretending that SSRI's are miracle cure-alls.
Matt
poster:mattdds
thread:140316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030208/msgs/140325.html