[Home] [Comment] [Notices]

Briefing on Drugs for Depression The drug testing files of the Food and Drug Administration reveal quite a different portrait of drugs for depression than seen in the usual media and medical hype. Click on any item for additional detail.
	Easy to be Misled Sure, many people get better, but the drug has little to do with the improvement. Relatively Toxic A wide array of side effects make them unpleasant to take and unacceptably toxic in many people. Marginal Benefits In clinical trials, the benefits can barely be distinguished from a placebo. Don't Work in Children Doctors prescribe these drugs for children even though major textbooks agree there is no evidence they work. Suicide Risk May cause suicide and other radical changes in behavior,despite the drug companies' extensive efforts to deny it. Withdrawal Symptoms Most cause withdrawal symptoms and all produce adverse effects indicating an impaired brain. What Biochemical Imbalance? No one has identified a specific biochemical imbalance in depression that these drugs might affect.
Explore the Issue in Depth
No Prescription for Happiness is a 1,500-word opinion piece written for the Boston Globe asking how America could have fallen in love with these drugs.    Hard to Swallow is a 10,000-word article from Washingtonian magazine focusing on two newer drugs, Serzone and Effexor.    Prozac Backlash is Harvard Psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen's important new book that uses engaging case histories to illustrate the scientific facts.