Are Anti-Depressants Helpful for Your Depression?

At the risk of siding with Tom Cruise on the very controversial subject of anti-depressants I came across some recent research that might suggest that he might have been onto something after all.  A recently published international study reviewed 47 different research studies comparing the use of SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) like Prozac and Efexor showed that the newest group of anti-depressants were only marginally effective in a small group of severely depressed patients.  The group did a meta-analysis of both published and unpublished studies and found that there was virtually no clinical significance in the use of these anti-depressants in mild to moderate depression over placebo (dummy pill). 

It seems that the researchers found that the improvements found in the studies could be attributed to a diminished response to the placebo rather than an increased effect of the medication being tested.  This study was initially done because previous meta-analyses (or group analysis) of published studies indicated that there was only moderate improvement in depression with the use of SSRI anti-depressants.  With this study, the researchers looked at a wider scope of published and unpublished studies. This study was published in PLoS medicine Journal to be submitted to the FDA for evaluation.  The companies that produced the medications strongly refute the new research findings but this new finding brings up the question "Are you feeling better because you believe you should feel better?  Or are you feeling better because of the medication?"  Are anti-depressants really helpful?  Or is there a strong placebo effect going on? 

I'm not suggesting that you get off your anti-depressants right now (always consult a doctor about this), but for mild to moderate depression there seems to be little indication that your anti-depressant is better than taking a sugar pill and believing it is an anti-depressant.  I, for one, see depressed patients in my practice and know that there are various approaches to the depression like using EFT (emotional freedom technique), acupressure/acupuncture, herbs and omega-3 fatty acids, counseling just to name a few successful therapies. If you are contemplating an anti-depressant consider the possible underlying cause and understand that there are many possible options open to the mildly to moderately depressed individual.

Some alternative considerations for causes of depression are hormonal imbalance, unresolved emotional trauma, unspoken or unacknowledged feelings (especially anger), omega 3 fatty acid deficiencies, b-vitamin deficiencies, digestive problems, amino acid deficiencies.  In Naturopathic medicine, we always encourage trying to deal with the underlying cause of a problem rather than going straight for a medication to deal with the symptom.  Usually the symptom is present to identify an imbalance.  Once the imbalance is rectified then the symptom disappears. 

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Comments

[Stephanie Quilao]

I was on an SSRI and I can say it helped to get me calm in the beginning so I could start the "real" work as I call it. I can see the initial stabilizng benefits but after that I agree that more effective treatment is to start he work on the underlying emotional causes. When I did that, I got off the pills and have never needed them again. I don't want to live the rest of my life on pills. The emotional work, I won't candy coat, was very hard and long. It took years, but I had an enormous amount of issues to work on. I'm better now at working on things so they don't become bigger problems later. As an FYI, insurance companies are more apt to pay for pills rather than therapy because it is cheaper for them. I think that sucks because it's heavily influencing how people heal and it explains why docs are more ready to push pills.

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