SSRIs -
The Problem with Drugs for Depression

There are two main problems with SSRIs. First, they are much less effective than their advertising would have you believe. Looking at the drug company's own data, they beat placebo by a very narrow margin. This margin can vanish entirely when the research is re-analyzed by an independent party.

Second, they have horrible side-effects. Drug companies have had to pay billions of dollars to patients for misleading them about the dangers of their drugs. These include causing manic breaks, homicidality, suicidality, weight gain and serious sexual problems.

If you would like to check any of the information posted here, please visit the research page or contact us with further questions.

Depression is NOT caused by a lack of serotonin.

Despite spending billions of dollars on research attempting to find a defect in the serotonin system of people experiencing depression, none has been found. While it has been shown that people who are depressed have lower levels of serotonin in their blood, artificially depleting the serotonin of a non-depressed person (through giving them a supplement with all essential amino acids other than tryptophan) does not make them depressed. In order words, people without the psychological causes of depression do not become depressed when their serotonin is depleted. Therefore, lower levels of serotonin seem to be a side-effect of feeling depressed and not a cause.

SSRIs and placebos

Research has consistently shown that SSRIs either outperform placebos by a very narrow margin or not at all. However, two things have allowed drug companies to successfully convince people that their drugs are highly effective.

People suffering from depression respond very positively to placebos.

This means that even if SSRIs do not beat placebos (and therefore would be just placebos) they are much more effective than no treatment. When someone goes on an SSRI such as Prozac, it is likely that they will improve. This makes it look as though the drug has a specific antidepressive effect. Yet hundreds of studies have shown that they would experience the same or nearly the same improvement on a placebo.

Drug companies cheat.

Studies comparing SSRIs and placebos do not usually end in an exact tie. Rather, some studies show placebo wining by a narrow margin and others show the drugs winning by similar margins. There is overwhelming evidence that drug companies have thrown away studies in which the placebo group won and published the studies in which their SSRIs won. This has created an environment in which it is difficult to determine whether or not these drugs have any antidepressant effects at all. Again, please visit the drug research page to look at the evidence for yourself.

You can also click here for a NY Times article about pharmaceutical companies corrupting the research process, or click here to watch a video of a former pharmaceutical representative talking about how she was trained to mislead doctors.

Medications for depression have harmful side-effects

Several class-action suits have been won against drug companies for hiding the potential dangers of their medications. These side effects include suicide, homicide, mania, excessive weight gain, and sexual dysfunction, among many others. In fact, all of the perpetrators of the well-publicized school shootings from Columbine to Virginia Tech were on antidepressants and substantial research exists showing increased homicidal tendencies on drugs such as Prozac.

Putting it all together

If depression medications are not much better than placebos (if at all) and have harmful side-effects, while there are other treatments that have been shown to be effective with positive side-effects, then it seems logical that one would look for alternatives to medication.

This site is maintained by Tim Desmond, MFTI 51287
copyright © 2007 Tim Desmond, MA. Last updated 31Jul2008.
Depression Treatment Works displays no paid advertising.