'The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth' by Irving Kirsch is an important and well written book which explains how Professor Irving Kirsch's research on the placebo effect showed him that antidepressants are little more than active placebos with side effects, and that sugar pills work almost as well. This shocked him, because he believed that antidepressants had a specific action to help with depression.

Further investigation revealed some shocking truths. A large number of drug trials showed antidepressants to be no more effective than placebos, yet these were unpublished and hidden from view. The drug licensing authorities which approved the drugs were also aware that antidepressants at best could be shown to be only very slightly effective, and that even this effect was clinically insignificant in the actual treatment of depression. Yet the market for antidepressant drugs is huge and very profitable.

This book is a 'must read' if you want to understand the truth about antidepressants. You will then know how antidepressants came to be regarded as wonder drugs, why they are not and why they have such a limited place in the treatment of depression.

For more information see my review of 'The Emperor's New Drugs by Irving Kirsch.

Current Items of Interest -