Posted by gman22 on February 4, 2010, at 8:27:14
In reply to Re: newsweek: antidepressants all placebo effect, posted by morganator on February 4, 2010, at 1:47:00
I think that this is a phenomenon due to over diagnosis of depression. People go to their GP complaining of almost anything and the Dr. will say they are "depressed". All kinds of ailments from tiredness, headaches, body aches, to vague symptoms of unhappiness in your job or relationship.
I've had true depression and it is way different than what people mean when they say "Oh he/she is just depressed today".
So logically, an antidepressant cannot work if the illness is not depression.
The results for "severe depression" and studies using tricyclics or MAOIs are much more promising.
As a matter of fact these classes of drugs were discovered by accident, meaning that there could be no placebo effect (since the drug was given for other reasons than depression)
poster:gman22
thread:935850
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100204/msgs/935938.html