So says Judith Warner in a New York Times op-ed in which she challenges some common misconceptions about antidepressants. The conventional wisdom, which is now buttressed by a recent study, is that antidepressants (among other psychotropic medications) are an ineffective and even harmful crutch, and doctors too quick to prescribe them.
The truth, as always, is a bit more nuanced. Barbara O’Brien has a good post on it, so I’ll let her do the talking:
… I wanted to call attention to this article in the New York Times by Judith Warner on antidepressants. This week a study on Paxil and imipramine said the antidepressants worked no better than a placebo on people with mild or moderate depression. Lots of studies have said this. However,
Antidepressants do work for very severely depressed people, as well as for those whose mild depression is chronic. However, the researchers found, the pills don’t work for people who aren’t really depressed — people with short-term, minor depression whose problems tend to get better on their own.
[…]
Warner goes on to document that, in America, people with clinical depression are more likely to be undertreated than overtreated.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.