New Report Reckons Our Anti-Depressants Are Becoming Less & Less Effective

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Published

May 16, 2016

Our fair country is one of the highest-ranking for the use of antidepressants – our current going rate is 1 in every 10 people is on ’em.

A new report in the Medical Journal of Australia has explained that despite antidepressant use rising steadily, the drugs are actually becoming less effective.

Co-author of the report Dr Christopher Davey said the gap between responses to antidepressants and placebos was get smaller and smaller. He spoke to 774 ABC Melbourne‘s Jon Faine about the reasoning behind this:

“Historically [there has] been a lot of negative trials that didn’t show that the antidepressants were more effective than placebo and they were buried and never published. Researchers have got hold of them now.

Second, the trials that were conducted for antidepressants are generally conducted in patients with more severe and complex illness, where perhaps they are less effective.

The third reason is that the placebo response seems to be getting much stronger, which is a really curious phenomenon.”

A big component of the placebo response is an expectation that you are going to get better [due] to medication,” he said.

Despite what we’re finding, that overall the medications may be less effective than once thought, I guess in the community, perhaps, there is an expectation that the pills will help. So the placebo response is getting stronger.”

However, Davey also said that this should not be confused, because antidepressants are still much more effective than placebo treatment. He said that medication should be used in conjunction with psychotherapy:

“So I’d say to people keep going with the medication. But I would also say to them, where they feel like the medication by itself hasn’t been helpful, that they go back to their doctor and ask if they reviewed the medication.

Also where they haven’t seen a therapist, [they could] see if they can see a therapist.”

Combining antidepressants with therapy has backed evidence that shows that it’s the best treatment path, but recent reports show that psychotherapy is being offered less often than more often, especially in the United States. (Australia currently lacks comparable data.)