USEFULNESS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS

Millions of Americans are now taking Prozac and similar antidepressants. The technical name for these are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). They are supposed to help people achieve happier, less anxious lives and are given for a broad range of disorders,including panic, obsessive, and phobic conditions, as well as depressive and anxious states, and even substance abuse and eating disorders.

But a team, led by University of Connecticut psychologist Irving Kirsch, analyzed clinical trial data for six widely prescribed antidepressants approved by the FDA between 1987 and 1999 (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Serzone, and Celexa). They found that "80 percent of the response to medication was duplicated in placebo control groups."

In everyday language, that means that the people who received only the fake pills felt better just about as much as those who got the drug! The average difference in improvement was only two points on the Hamilton Depression Scale, which produces scores up to 50 or 62 points, depending on the version used. The difference was so small that it was obvious the people got better because they expected to. (Source: Irving Kirsch, et al., "The Emperors New Drugs," Prevention and Treatment, July 2002. This is the journal of the American Psychological Association.)

"Our data suggest that the effects of antidepressant drugs are very small and of questionable clinical significance," the Kirsch study concluded. Due to the dangerous side effects of these drugs, people should not take them.

ANTIDEPRESSANTS AND SUICIDE

In the September issue of Clinical Psychiatry News, Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director of International Coalition for Drug Awareness (and author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? Our Serotonin Nightmare), discussed an astounding research study, that people who regularly take serotonergic medicines (another name for SSRIs) are 68 times more likely to commit suicide than those who do not!

These drugs are supposed to relax people, yet they are doing the very opposite.

A patients chances of suicide jump from 11 out of 100,000 to as much as 718 out of 100,000 if one is taking one of these new SSRI antidepressants (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, and Celexa). Yet those medications are supposed to rid a person of depressed, suicidal tendencies! The risk is even higher for the new serotonergic antipsychotics (Zyprexa, Risperal, Seroquel): 752 out of 100,000.

The data for this study was presented by Dr. Arif Khan at a recent meeting of the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit, of the National Institute of Mental Health.

What Khan did was to analyze the data on the suicide rate of all the patients who participated in the clinical trials for these new drugs, a total of over 71,604 people. The purpose of the clinical trials was to ascertain whether the drugs were "safe and effective" for the general public. When completed, the data was presented to the FDA, which examined it and then approved the new compounds. What Khan did was to look more closely at the data which the FDA thought was so excellent for drugs approved between 1985 and 2000.

It should be known that everyone known to be "actively suicidal" was excluded from those trials. What Khan discovered was that the suicide rate among those who did take the medications horribly increased to an extremely high number.

Why is it that the FDA did not recognize this glaring fact? It is clear that these drugs, that increase the serotonin rate in people, cause suicide rather than cure it. Ironically, modern psychiatry treats patients by giving them drugs, such as these!

Average Americans have an 11 out of 100,000 suicide rate. The rate for those who take antidepressant drugs should lower it from 11 to 4 or 6. But, instead, the serotonin drugs dramatically increase the likelihood those taking them will want to end their lives:

752 per 100,000 for those treated with atypical antipsychotics: risperidone (Riserdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa), and quetiapine (Seroquel).

718 per 100,000 for those taking SSRIs: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa).

425 per 100,000 for those treated for "social anxiety disorder" with nefazodone (Serzone), mirtazapine (Remeron), and bupropton (Wellbutrin/Zyban).

136 per 100,000 for those treated for panic disorder with benzodiazepine alprazolam (Xanax).

105 per 100,000 for those treated for obsessive-compulsive disorder with anticonvulsant valproate (Depakote).

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