Two New Studies on Anti-depressants Again Shows Psych Meds Work Half the Time

Two new studies on anti-depressants were released today. One, conducted by Group Health right here in Seattle, asserts that anti-depressants do not lead to an increased rate of suicide. That runs counter to evidence given to the FDA, which led to the agency slapping black box warnings on suicidality and suicide on the SSRIs. But the Group Health data comes from a review of a huge data set on patients who've been through the HMO's system since the early 90s. I trust the researcher who led the study. So, now, I am officially going "Hmmmm" over this.

The second study, actually intermediate results from the STAR-D NIMH-funded study, claims that SSRIs studied "cured" depression over a 12-week period in about one-third of the patients. ("Cured" was the claim in the press rewrite of the study announcement. Cured is a bullshit term with a lifelong illness that is prone to remission. It spreads false hope. Arg.) Also, the study says that symtoms of depression ere remitted by 50 percent in another 10 to 15 percent of patients.

Translation: Anti-depressants studied work about half the time. That's further confirmation of NIMH's own assertion that psych meds achieve 50 percent or greater remission about half the time and full symptom remission less than half the time.

Does anyone really think that half-performance is a good deal? Does anyone think that half performance means that the psychopharmacological revolution is much of a revolution? Or is it more like yet another iteration in patients' quest for relief? I'll take the latter.

The good folks at Health Day News think otherwise, headlining their article "Antidepressants Work and Don't Boost Suicide Risk: Studies." That's a claim that just isn't supported. If I only half-worked at work, then I'd be fired. So why does the media cut psych meds such a break on half-performance? They must be on pharma's payroll. Lovely.