Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: Abilify to Help with Depression?

Posted by desolationrower on November 13, 2008, at 12:52:34

In reply to Re: Abilify to Help with Depression?, posted by Phillipa on November 13, 2008, at 10:54:25

http://www.beforeyoutakethatpill.com/2008/11/abilify-me.html
[quote]
So what do the studies actually show?

In the first study of Abilify, 362 patients were randomly assigned to Abilify or placebo for six weeks after a failed trial of antidepressants. There was a -8.8 v -5.8 change on the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), a difference of 11.5%. 23% of patients on Abilify versus 5% on placebo had akathisia, a potentially very disturbing side effect where you feel like you are jumping out of your skin or cannot sit still. Restlessness was seen in 14% v 3%. Fatigue was also more common. Berman RM et al J Clin Psychiatry 2007; 68: 843-53.

In the second study of Abilify, 381 patients who had failed at least one antidepressant medication trial were treated for eight weeks with an antidepressant followed by the addition of Abilify or a placebo for six weeks. Abilify showed an -8.5 change on the 26 item Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) versus -5.7 for placebo, a difference of 2.8 points, a difference of 11%. 26% of patients on Abilify versus 4% on placebo had akathisia, and 10% versus 1% had restlessness. Marcus RN et al, J Clin Psychopharm 2008; 28(2):156-165
.

Conclusions? Abilify is more likely to make you want to jump out of your skin than it is to cure your depression. An 11% improvement over placebo is not that great and is set off by the fact that Abilify has a lot of nasty side effects and doesn't work better than other treatments of refractory depression like lithium (which also can have nasty side effects). I don't watch TV ads because I have TiVo but I can only imagine how it was presented by BMS [/quote]

-d/r

 

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:desolationrower thread:862757
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081106/msgs/862839.html