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A new study has emerged from England, questioning the efficacy of Prozac and other SSRIs. According to the lead researcher on the study, University of Hull Professor Irving Kirsch, "The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great." The study concluded that "depressed people can improve without chemical treatments...[and] there seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed to provide a benefit." And seriously? No shit. I thought we decided last month that Prozac, along with other anti-depressants, are over-prescribed, at least in the United States, by a health care system that does not provide the resources for talk-therapy. More »
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There's a major backlash a-brewin' against the use of psychotropic medication to battle depression, and the forthcoming book Comfortably Numb by Charles Barber, could easily be called the bible of that backlash. Barber, a psychiatrist, cautions against over-medication, and argues that, "anger, greed, laziness, impulsivity, as well as jealousy, lust, anguish, and so on, are simply part of the human predicament" and should not be treated with medication. Barber is attempting to draw a line between "real" depression and just being bummed out, suggesting cognitive behavioral therapy or other forms of talk therapy to combat depression. I think no one can argue that anti-depressants are over-prescribed — horror stories about five-year-olds on Zoloft litter anti-drug literature and Scientology screeds — but without prolonged talk therapy, how can you draw that line? And even after thorough psychiatric investigation, won't each therapist's discretion be subjective? More »
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