Posted by SLS on July 29, 2005, at 8:09:21
In reply to Antidepressants, posted by med_empowered on July 28, 2005, at 18:00:38
> There's no need to ditch the antidepressants completely, but it would be nice to explore new drugs, new theories, and new understanding of depression and emotional life in general.
This is PRECISELY what has been going on in neuroscience and psychiarty since I first stuck my nose in medical journals in 1983. I doubt there is much that has been overlooked, despite how much there is yet to be discovered. I can understand how people whom are not very familiar with this basic and clinical research would view the state of the art as being impotent. Data comes in quickly. Unfortunately, understanding does not.
I would just like to add my usual caution that people on Psycho-Babble whom have demonstrated treatment resistence not generalize their experiences to the general population and the majority of those being treated.
It might be time to use different paradigms for the testing of humans for the efficacy of antidepressants. Placebo controls seem to confound the interpretations of results, leaving many investigations meaningless. This is an ongoing debate, and the key fact being considered is that the rate of placebo effect is too high, despite randomization. Many researchers - Fredrick Quitkin being perhaps the most prominent - have been looking very closely at the nature of the placebo response and how it affects the interpretation of clinical trials of antidepressants.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:534296
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050728/msgs/535234.html