Posted by JLM on October 3, 2002, at 18:08:05
In reply to Re: antidepressants and severe depression, posted by LostboyinNC2 on October 3, 2002, at 15:37:30
> I found this article which states the exact same thing Ive been saying all along. That the people who need a QUALITY antidepressant the most are the ones least included in antidepressant drug clinical trials. That is, those with severe forms of depression (biological depressions, endogenous depressions, etc.) The people recruited into these new antidepressant drug trials the most are those with dysthymia and moderate depression. Thus, this is the main reason we keep hearing about this "placebo effect" crap. Im so sick and tired of hearing about the placebo effect. I suppose all those SSRI drug side effects like weight gain, delayed orgasm, dry mouth, etc. are "placebo effect" also, huh?
>
> To quote directly from this article, "
>
> "The greater relative benefit of antidepressant therapy among more severely depressed patients (e.g., Elkin et al., 2002, or Thase et al., 1997a) is offhandedly rejected as an artifact or "regression to the mean." Most recently, Khan and colleagues (2002) reported a steady linear relationship between pretreatment severity and the probability of observing a significant drug-placebo difference. The well-replicated observation that milder depressions are more placebo-responsive is not mentioned. Nor is the futility of placebo treatment of psychotic depression."
>
> Psychologists shouldnt even be allowed to write articles on antidepressant placebo effects. Most psychologists are all biased individuals who would rather have the most severe depressive in therapy rather than go on meds.
>
> Anyway here is the article:
>
> http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p020909.html
>
>
> Eric LOSTBOYinNC
>
>
>
>Most psychologists are biased people? What's your basis for saying that?
What about the bias of the people who conduct clinical trials for multi mega million dollar drugs companies? No possibility of bias there, do ya think? God forbid anyone would impune
their character.Not to say that AD's or mood stabilizers don't help people, but the dogma of biopsychiatry that
all mood disorders are caused by organic brain
diseases is a long long long long way from being
an established 'fact'. Neurologists treat organic brain problems, not pdocs. Observable, measureable, repeateatable, and objective.When we don't even have a working model of a 'normal' human brain, its just hubris at this
point to say that people have a 'chemical imbalance'. Its also stigmatizing to the patient.
Of course psychosurgery and insulin shock were
pretty stigmatizing too ;)
poster:JLM
thread:121482
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020930/msgs/122185.html