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Antidepressants: Overused and Unnecessarily?

A study reported in the March 2002 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry makes an interesting point. Most of the patients who are currently on antidepressants do not present enough symptoms of depression to even qualify to participate in studies involving antidepressants. This has raised questions about whether or not antidepressants are being overused in the general population.

According to the author of the study, Dr. Mark Zimmerman of Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island, in general, 86 percent of depressed patients treated in a typical clinical setting would be excluded from antidepressant studies using generally accepted criteria.

He goes on to say that because drugs like Prozac and Wellbutrin were only tested in very select groups of people, there is not much data proving that they actually benefit most depressed patients.

Zimmerman worries that doctors and patients are relying too heavily on “miracle pills to cure depression,” which can be just as easily treated with talk therapy or in many cases, no therapy at all. He also worries that patients using powerful antidepressants are being exposed to unwanted dangerous side effects such as suicidal thoughts and impaired sexual function.

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