One of the conditions for which Americans are the most over-medicated is depression and its counterpart, anxiety. Millions, tens of millions of Americans are on these drugs, pushed relentlessly by pharmaceutical companies’ advertising and handed out by doctors who are afraid to say no or find this the easiest way to deal with patients’ issues, instead of helping them with life’s challenges. These drugs are not without serious side effects, particularly as patients remain on them for an extended, really indefinite, period of time. Those side effects include gastro-intestinal bleeding, suicides and withdrawal symptoms if and when the physicians comes to his or her senses and stops the prescription. And these drugs likely are completely ineffective for mild or even moderate depression.
An article in Trust the Evidence, written by physicians devoted to evidence-based medicine and true good research, examines anti-depressant use in Britain and the underlying research, and finds that there is no evidence to suggest that these drugs work for those with mild or moderate depression. Even for severe cases, the benefit appears to be small. The drug companies, in their usual deceptive way, did the trials on people with severe depression and then encouraged use for patients with milder symptoms, likely knowing that those patients wouldn’t benefit. The authors find that at least half the anti-depressant prescriptions in Britain are for people with mild depression, so this is a complete waste of money. I suspect it is even worse in the US. This should be addressed by ending advertising and more strict scrutiny of prescribing. It would save billions of dollars a year and avoid damage to patients’ mental and physical health. (TTE Post)
