Antidepressants Versus Placebos: Meaningful Advantages Are Lacking

Antidepressants are widely believed to be exceptionally effective medications. The data, however, tell a different story. via Psychiatric Times

[Brigid W]

This doesn't surprise me at all. There is no magic pill out there which can make us all feel better, I with that there was. Meanwhile, we have to deal with all the side-effects and withdrawal issues for only minimal or non-existent improvement. The docs keep upping dosages and trying more and more combinations. There are no easy answers or magic pills. Bummer huh?

[Meerkat]

Hm, I can only go by myself and my own experiences and I notice that my meds do something for me, besides side-effects.
Also, I know that there's an awful lot of money (both marketing wise as well as political) going around in the PR efforts around popular meds.
So as with every 'breaking' news; pro, or con, I reserve the right to take it with a grain of salt. but thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Brigid W]

Meerkat wrote:

Hm, I can only go by myself and my own experiences and I notice that my meds do something for me, besides side-effects.
Also, I know that there's an awful lot of money (both marketing wise as well as political) going around in the PR efforts around popular meds.
So as with every 'breaking' news; pro, or con, I reserve the right to take it with a grain of salt. but thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Its good to hear that somebody is being helped. I have tried so many anti-depressents without any luck. The side effects and withdrawal problems have been terrible. I am starting to lose hope. Sorry to be a downer.

[Meerkat]

Not at all. We're all different and for some it works and for some it doesn't. Maybe I'm the freak here.
I have had odd experiences with ADs, but my present regimen strikes a practical and bearable balance between benefit and side-effects. I'm sorry that it doesn't work for you.
What I have also heard is that ADs are over0prescribed. i.e. being indicated and advised for conditions that are really not clinical depressions, but more like situational depressions. For those, these meds don't work, because there is no underlying chemical (oxitocin / serotonin) imbalance.

[Jason]

In reality, antidepressants (http://www.originaldrugs.com/antidepressants-... ) are not 100% effective. Their effectiveness is about 50-70%.

[JimT]

Hi there!

I went through a number of things [is all I can say], and having had panic disorder for years, thinking this was hypoglycemia, I found myself experiencing about eight to ten panic attacks a day, until finally I found myself unable to go outside, not to work, nor the grocery store, and sometimes, I could not come out of my bedroom, if I heard someone in the house [lived with two brothers]. My doctor saw me at a restaurant one day, and asked me to come see him tomorrow, which I did. Working with my GP, and a Psychiatrist, it was decided I was suffering from endogenous depression with panic disorder and agorophobia [what a mess I was! I can only thankfully look back at that today, and thank God I am not still there].

Was put on a tricyclic antidepressant called Norpramin, and because of hypo-manic episodes, due to the Norpramin, Xanax to offset IT.

But, the Norpramin worked for me, insofar as I felt a definite lifting off of everything but the panic disorder, in 48 hours! I called my GP, and thanked him profusely, because I refused to take the medications as ill as I was initially, but went back to him being unable to take life in the shape I was in anymore, GIVE ME ANYTHING!

The tricyclic family are old hat today [this was back in 1986], but I was told after much history-taking and therapy, that I had come into the world with a chemical imbalance, and I was unable to use the coping mechanisms I had been used to with advancing age, and so that which could be called almost a full breakdown when I would not self-medicate any longer, usually alcohol [not alcoholic], but had gotten into some trouble having made a few bad decisions while drinking.

I've been using Norpramin and Xanax for 21 years now, and I am finally choosing to "Do it my way!" The doctors have told me since that time, if I withdraw even very slowly, all will come back again -- that's who I now am, without the imbalance rectified with the drugs. I've tried a number of times [a few dozen or more], to come away from the drugs, and as soon as I reach a certain amount of the drugs [a certain minimum level, done very slowly], I begin feeling as I did in 1986 all over again, and so I increase to normal top plasma level, and all is well.

This time, I'm doing it super-slowly, with a positive attitude! I can only do what I can do, and so I am optimistic, as well as being pragmatic. I will go as far as I am able, but I cannot live as I once did: it was far too unreal, lonely, filled with an unknown chronic fear, and I have no real fear of death. I'm adding "prayer" this time too, for I am sure it cannot hurt. I was ADHD as well when young, although never treated then, but the Norpramin is used for IT as well. Sometimes, I feel like I should not try, because all is well, but I must try one more time. That's been the story since 1986 -- try one more time! Just thought this was a place to share some big truths! Thanks for listening.

[jonathan]

I've read that antidepressents only work in 1 out of 3 cases and has to do with your brain whether it will work for you or not