Trust older human clinical trials. They used stricter criteria to diagnose Major Depressive Disorder accurately and excluded people who didn't meet them.
The problem with more recent trials is that they let just about anyone in who says that they are depressed. That's why "placebo" rates are higher now. They are treating people with a drug not meant to be studied in people who don't have the disease they are investigating. Does psychogenic depression respond to antidepressants with equal efficacy compared to biogenic depression? What about the so-called minor depressions? For some people, just being in treatment for the first time and having psychological support from doctors and their staff creates optimism and a reduction in their reporting of depression severity - this is reported as a placebo effect. This is less likely to happen with a severe case of Major Depressive Disorder, especially with the endogenous / melancholic type.
- Scott
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this signature | Show by default | Change to hide (next time)Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.