IMS Health, a market research firm, named antidepressants the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S. with near 258 million prescriptions to 30 million patients in 2007. This arouses hot arguments on whether the number of people with depression has increased or whether the drug is simply overprescribed.
Antidepressants are a very effective medication for people with severe mental problems, but in case they are marketed too aggressively they might be used as a quick fix for even a slightest emotional difficulty.
Although they are no magical cure for all diseases, antidepressants remain among the best selling drugs with $12 billion dollar sales last year. Because of the increase in the use of this type of medications several research agencies decided to test their effectiveness.
According to British researchers who analyzed the data of 35 clinical trials of Prozac, Serzone, Paxil and Effexor, antidepressants only work for people with severe forms of depression. As for those with mild emotional problems, the effect of the drugs equals to that of placebo. The bottom-line is that many people taking antidepressants don’t really need them.
However another study financed by the National Institute of Mental Health showed that taking more than one antidepressant or switching to a different medication in case the previous one didn’t work can effectively treat chronic depressions.
Robert Bransfielf, a psychiatrist at the New Jersey Psychiatric Association believes that although people are more inclined to rely on medications rather than psychotherapy, many people are still undermedicated. He claims that many researchers fail to see the effectiveness of antidepressants because they only do short-term tests on old medications.
What experts do agree on is that we should differentiate between serious mental disorders that require medical treatment and slight emotional problems when people use antidepressants to provide for the lack of will. Like most drugs antidepressants only are effective when properly used.
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