

Poor-Quality Antidepressant Studies - techdog
http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/2013/03/77-poor-quality-antidepressant-studies.html

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lutusp
It's too bad the author of this piece didn't include a reference to a
remarkable study that combined published antidepressant studies, most of which
found them to be effective, and studies that were funded, carried out, but
then not published, which largely found them to be ineffective. The study's
conclusion: "Meta-analyses of antidepressant medications have reported only
modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are
included, _the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical
significance_." [Translation: antidepressants do not work.]

The study:
[http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fj...](http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050045)

After this study was published, it ought to have been replicated, or its
conclusions called into question or falsified, or newer studies of greater
scope be carried out, or antidepressant manufacturers be forced to include a
warning on their antidepressant products: "This drug is actually a placebo".

But ... none of these things happened. The study had precisely no effect on
the pharmaceutical industry or the public.

