Prozac and other SSRIs; or, oh, for fuck's sake.

[jang]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/26/mentalhealth.medicalresearch

So, Prozac in the usual light doses it's prescribed in is indistinguishable from a placebo. But that's not what this is about. What this is about is the following gem:

[[[
The only exception is in the most severely depressed patients, according to the authors - Prof Irving Kirsch from the department of psychology at Hull University and colleagues in the US and Canada. But that is probably because the placebo stopped working so well, they say, rather than the drugs having worked better.
]]]

Let's have that once again.

But that is probably because the placebo stopped working so well, they say, rather than the drugs having worked better.

This kind of crap is enough to put one in a mood that is as likely to be affected by placebos as SSRIs :-/

Comments

[gedhrel.livejournal.com]

What irritates me is the reporting, which appears to say, "Prozac is so bad that it doesn't even work particularly for severely depressed people, it's just that the placebo has a reduced affect, so the conclusion that it's no good can be taken across the board."

[jonnycowbells.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of a certain report that went along the lines of "These children haven't got autism, but they've all had the MMR vaccine, so we'll stick them in that group anyway because they're bound to get it."

I'd hope it's ambiguous reporting because things like that can get one's licence to practise medicine taken away.

[gedhrel.livejournal.com]

Disappointingly, that particular phrasing occurs in the abstract too; presumably they were after the exposure that headlines can bring.