Posted by SLS on October 15, 2015, at 22:10:14
In reply to Re: Conclusions, posted by Toph on October 15, 2015, at 14:17:30
> Are there any statistics on the incidence of antidepressants saving the lives of suicidal patients?
I don't know. I've never seen any.
Antidepressants look real good in trials that are limited to people with the most severe of depressions. In the past, such trials using TCAs produced 66% response rates with low placebo response rates. Unfortunately, as time passed, the demand for test subjects became higher, and investigators began allowing people with mild and moderate depressions to participate. I believe that this set up for too many placebo responders and a loading of non-responding people whose depression was not diagnosed properly. In other words, they were treating people who didn't have the disease that the test drug was meant to treat. Of course, that is a very simplistic approach to understand the issue.
One day soon, many of these questions will be answered by evaluating biological markers - PET scans or blood tests perhaps.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1082523
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20140902/msgs/1083501.html