Antidepressants’ benefit is clinically meaningless compared to a placebo says Harvard researcher

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Sunday, August 14, 2016 11:01 am Email this article

The supposed benefit of prescription antidepressants is clinically meaningless when compared to a placebo notes Irving Kirsch, PhD from Harvard Medical School.

When analyzing data from both published and unpublished studies of prescription antidepressants, Irving Kirsch found a difference between antidepressants and a placebo were only 1.8 points on the Hamilton Depression Scale.

“The [Hamilton Depression Scale] is a 17-item scale on which people can score from 0 to 53 points, depending on how depressed they are,” Kirsh writes.

“A six-point [6-point] difference can be obtained just by changes in sleep patterns, with no change in any other symptom of depression.”

“The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which drafts treatment guidelines for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, has established a three-point difference [3-point difference] between drug and placebo on the [Hamilton Depression Scale] as a criterion of clinical significance.

“Thus, when published and unpublished data are combined, they fail to show a clinically significant advantage for antidepressant medication over inert placebo.”

Example of something that might be statistically significant, but not clinically significant

He gives an example of something that might be statistically significant, but not clinically significant, saying that if they studied a large group of people and found that smiling increases life expectancy by 5 minutes, this might be statistically significant, but clinically meaningless.

He is saying that this is the same with a difference of only 1.8 points on the Hamilton depression score between those taking an antidepressant and a placebo—that this difference is clinically meaningless.

Results are Similar in Long-Term Studies

“In their meta-analysis of published clinical trials, NICE (2004) found that the difference between drug and placebo in the LONG-TERM trials were no larger than those in short-term trials.”

Irving Kirsh’s book The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth

Irving Kirsh is the author of the book The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth.

Robert Whitaker’s book Anatomy of an Epidemic Talked About All of This

Robert Whitaker’s wonderful book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America (2010) talks about all of this also.

Whitaker found that:

• antidepressants are NOT very effective in the short-term
• when given long-term, they convert a short-term illness into a chronic problem
• increase the risk of converting someone from unipolar depression to manic-depression
• may cause cognitive problems
• are not “normalizing agents”, but instead are “abnormalizing agents”
• REDUCE serotonin levels
• DECREASE serotonin receptors

Reference

Kirsch I. Antidepressants and the Placebo Effect. Z Psychol, 2014; 222(3): 128-134.

The paper is posted here.

Author’s Contact Info

Irving Kirsch, PhD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Gen. Med. Pricare
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215 USA
Tel. +1 617 945-7827
Fax +1 617 492-3182
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

 

 

Other Articles About Antidepressants

Here are links to other articles about antidepressants.

Antidepressants benefits mostly, if not entirely, due to the placebo effect says Harvard researcher

If you ask me, no one should take antidepressants, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Fluoxetine (Prozac), a terrible drug, Peter Gotzsche, MD

3 False Epidemics: ADHD, Autism and Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Risk of suicide caused by SSRI’s grossly underestimated, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Likely to have been 15 times more suicides on antidepressant than reported by FDA, Peter Gotzsche MD

‘Virtually all trials of psychotropic agents are flawed’ says Peter Gotzsche, MD

Survey found 60% felt emotional numb on antidepressants says Peter Gotzsche, MD

Antidepressants don’t work for depression, Peter Gotzsche, MD

DSM-IV created three false epidemics: ADHD, autism and childhood bipolar disorder, Peter Gotzsche MD

Psychiatry Has Spiraled Out of Control, Peter Gotzsche, MD

1% of US children up to only four years of age are on psychotropic drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD

It Should Be Forbidden To Make a Second Diagnosis While Someone Is On Drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD

All Psychiatric Diagnoses and Interventions Can Cause Harm, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Screening for Depression is Harmful, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs kill more than 500,000 people 65 and older each year, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drug use could be reduced by 98 percent, Peter Gotzsche, MD

There is a Huge Epidemic of drug overuse with SSRI’s, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatrists Think Psychiatric Drugs Are Effective, Patients Do NOT, Peter Gotzsche, MD

It Is Doubtful Whether Antidepressants Are Effective For Depression, Peter Gotzsche, MD

SSRI’s Kill One Of 28 People Above 65 Years Of Age Treated For One Year, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Many People Suffer Disabling Symptoms For Years Following Antidepressant Withdrawal, Peter Gotzsche

Prescriptions for antidepressants written in 3 minutes or less, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Many People Are Wrongly Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Peter Gotzsche, MD

One-Fourth of Healthy People [Wrongly] Got A Psychiatric Diagnosis, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Before and After picture of depressed woman treated with natural approach, Joan Mathews Larson, PhD

SSRI’s increase risk of suicides, Parkinson’s and restless legs notes Joan Mathews Larson PhD

SSRI’s may increase risk of breast cancer, notes Joan Mathews Larson PhD

SSRI’s make things worse notes Joan Mathews Larson, PhD

Merck hid 3 heart attacks in VIGOR trial of Vioxx, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Drug studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine are advertisements, Peter Gotzsche, MD

8 children on the SSRI antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) had suicidal thoughts, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Stopping an antidepressant can make people feel depressed or suicidal, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs, drug industry cheated in drug trials, withholding suicides, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatry is the drug industry’s paradise, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs can CAUSE psychiatric diseases, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatry’s lies, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs has INCREASED the number of people on disability, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Antidepressants are dangerous, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Antidepressants increase risk of suicide, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs do ‘more harm than good’ notes Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs create ‘more harm than good’ notes Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD

‘Drug companies don’t sell drugs, they sell lies about drugs’ notes Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD

You can get the same benefit without drugs if you are mildly or moderately depressed, Irving Kirsch

Physical exercise improves mild depression as much as antidepressants notes UK’s Dr. Tim Kendall

The FDA says unpublished drug trials are unpublished because they were flawed, but Britain disagrees

Great Britain found that for mild to moderate depression, antidepressants were not effective

The FDA requires only two studies show positive results to approve a drug

The serotonin deficiency theory of depression is probably not correct says Walter Brown, MD

For mild to moderate depression, antidepressants are no better than a placebo, Irving Kirsch, PhD

17 million Americans taking antidepressants

Sales of antidepressants total $11.3 billion per year

Antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs do more harm than good

Risperdal (risperidone) plus Paxil (paroxetine) causes weight gain of 30-31 lbs in 4-5 months

Zoloft (sertraline) increases risk of diabetes 25%

Paxil (paroxetine) increases risk of diabetes 33%

Elavil (amitriptyline) increases risk of diabetes 43%

Anafranil (clomipramine) increases risk of diabetes 123%

Surmontil (trimipramine) increases risk of diabetes 146%

Antidepressants benefits mostly, if not entirely, due to the placebo effect says Harvard researcher

180 to 720 mg of rubidium chloride had a significant antidepressant effect in two-thirds of patients

360-720 mg of rubidium chloride per day for 2 months had rapid antidepressant action in 20 people

540 mg of rubidium chloride for 3 weeks had antidepressant effect in 15 depressed people

History of the mineral rubidium as an antidepressant

If you ask me, no one should take antidepressants, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Fluoxetine (Prozac), a terrible drug, Peter Gotzsche, MD

3 False Epidemics: ADHD, Autism and Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Risk of suicide caused by SSRI’s grossly underestimated, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Likely to have been 15 times more suicides on antidepressant than reported by FDA, Peter Gotzsche MD

‘Virtually all trials of psychotropic agents are flawed’ says Peter Gotzsche, MD

Survey found 60% felt emotional numb on antidepressants says Peter Gotzsche, MD

Antidepressants don’t work for depression, Peter Gotzsche, MD

DSM-IV created three false epidemics: ADHD, autism and childhood bipolar disorder, Peter Gotzsche MD

Psychiatry Has Spiraled Out of Control, Peter Gotzsche, MD

1% of US children up to only four years of age are on psychotropic drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD

It Should Be Forbidden To Make a Second Diagnosis While Someone Is On Drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD

All Psychiatric Diagnoses and Interventions Can Cause Harm, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Screening for Depression is Harmful, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drugs kill more than 500,000 people 65 and older each year, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatric drug use could be reduced by 98 percent, Peter Gotzsche, MD

There is a Huge Epidemic of drug overuse with SSRI’s, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatrists Think Psychiatric Drugs Are Effective, Patients Do NOT, Peter Gotzsche, MD

It Is Doubtful Whether Antidepressants Are Effective For Depression, Peter Gotzsche, MD

SSRI’s Kill One Of 28 People Above 65 Years Of Age Treated For One Year, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Many People Suffer Disabling Symptoms For Years Following Antidepressant Withdrawal, Peter Gotzsche

Prescriptions for antidepressants written in 3 minutes or less, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Many People Are Wrongly Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Peter Gotzsche, MD

One-Fourth of Healthy People [Wrongly] Got A Psychiatric Diagnosis, Peter Gotzsche, MD

High histamine levels cause compulsion, low levels irritability, Joan Mathews Larson PhD

180 to 720 mg of rubidium chloride had a significant antidepressant effect in two-thirds of patients

360-720 mg of rubidium chloride per day for 2 months had rapid antidepressant action in 20 people

540 mg of rubidium chloride for 3 weeks had antidepressant effect in 15 depressed people

History of the mineral rubidium as an antidepressant

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Antidepressants

• Doctor - Irving Kirsch, PhD