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DO HAPPY PILLS WORK
Posted by: Darrell Castle
January 12, 2010
Topic: Personal Injury
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania indicated that the antidepressants Paxil and imipramine work no better than placebos ("than sugar pills," said CNN) for people with mild to moderate depression. This study was widely reported by CNN and in an article by Judith Warner in the New York Times January 9, 2010. The headline said, "happy pills don't work," but Ms. Warner found that statement neither startling nor true. Experts have argued for years that antidepressants are over prescribed and over sold, but the New York Times has concluded that lost in the clutter of all the psychiatric hype and trickery is the true picture of mental health care in America.
The study actually concluded that antidepressants do work for very severely depressed people, as well as for those whose mild depression is chronic. However, for those who are not truly depressed antidepressants do not work. People with short term minor depression tend to get better without treatment. Often just talking about it seems to help them. People who are depressed for the first time or who have suffered a temporary setback causing depression are not ideal candidates for drug therapy according to the researchers.
The conclusion of Ms. Warner's article is that the real culprit in the mental health problems of America is the system of treatment, or lack of treatment, as it exists. "The trouble is not that the drugs don't work; it's that the care is not very good." People with mental health problems tend to be undertreated or not treated at all. When they are treated it is usually by a general practitioner rather than a mental health specialist. According to the Times, the true picture of mental health care in America is not perfectly healthy people popping pills but mentally ill people not getting care.
I submit that the real interest of Judith Warner and the New York Times is revealed in the last sentence of the article. "With health care reform almost certainly on the horizon, perhaps now we can hope they will start asking." In other words, the New York Times wants us to believe that once the federal government has total control of our health care things will be so much better.
