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Monday, May 04, 2009

Do Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States?

This is the title of an article by Joanna Moncrieff and David Cohen that you can read here. This is the conclusion:

Conclusion
"Many patients are led to believe, by their physicians and by advertising, that antidepressant drugs will act on the biological cause of their depressed state by rectifying a “chemical imbalance ” [56 ]. On the contrary, our analysis indicates that there are no specific antidepressant drugs, that most of the short-term effects of antidepressants are shared by many other drugs, and that long-term drug treatment with antidepressants or any other drugs has not been shown to lead to long-term elevation of mood. We suggest that the term “antidepressant ” should be abandoned. We have proposed an alternative drug-centred model of drug action that is consistent with a demedicalised approach to depression." emphasys mine

Joanna Moncrieff is a senior lecturer in Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom. David Cohen is a professor at the School of Social Work, College of Health and Urban Affairs, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States of America.

4 comments:

Marj aka Thriver said...

Wow. Thanks for sharing this article. It should be widely distributed. But, I'm sure it won't be. I agree with their findings, just on my own personal experience any way.

Ana said...

My experience is the same as yours.

CailinMarie said...

stumbled upon you quite by accident -
interesting -
I read recently in VOGUE of all places that the atnidepressants being given to preganant women (and thought to be safe) are being linked to health concerns for the baby.
I was furious - why am I reading that in Vogue and not Newsweek or Times or someplace that ought to be discussing it????

Ana said...

Hi Cailin!
This is why many people are bloging on mental health.
The mainstream media does not say the whole truth about these drugs because they make a lot of money.
The best source to know about psych-drugs is blogs made by people who has suffered or have seen a loved one suffering side effects.
You can search at Furious Seasons (there's a link at my blog list) that is done by a journalist, Philip Dawdy, who dedicate his time reporting on the harms these drugs can cause and how the Labs and even FDA hide these effects.
It's amazing but that's what is happening.
Yours truly,
Ana