A new study published today is sure to set off another storm in the ongoing debate about the widespread prescription of antidepressants. Professor Irving Kirsch at the University of Hull and colleagues in the US and Canada report that new generation 'SSRI' antidepressants like Prozac or Seroxat mostly fall, "below the recommended criteria for clinical significance" (Kirsch et al. 2008). In other words, the most modern drugs prescribed for depression generally don't work.

The study was particularly interested in whether the drugs had different effects on people with different levels of depression. Here is what they found:
  • Mild depression: not tested as mild depression is usually treated with a 'talk therapy' rather than antidepressants.
  • Moderate depression: antidepressants made "virtually no difference".
  • Severe depression: antidepressants had a "small and clinically insignificant" effect.
  • Most severe depression: antidepressants had a significant clinical benefit - but see below...

More

From : PsyBlog