“I ain’t yellin’, you’re listenin’ too loud.” Huntz Hall as Horace Debussy Jones in , In Fast Company–A Dead End Kids Movie.
There are two articles on psychoactive medication, one quite recent, which outline what is wrong with the field.
The first is from the New England Journal of Medicine, 2008. “Among 74 FDA-registered studies, 31%, accounting for 3449 study participants, were not published. Whether and how the studies were published were associated with the study outcome. A total of 37 studies viewed by the FDA as having positive results were published; 1 study viewed as positive was not published. Studies viewed by the FDA as having negative or questionable results were, with 3 exceptions, either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies). According to the published literature, it appeared that 94% of the trials conducted were positive. By contrast, the FDA analysis showed that 51% were positive.” In other words, if the results were positive-publish–if not, don’t. How’s that for science?
The second study, “Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity.”, was published in 2010. There are two major points in this presentation. The first is that the authors started with 2164 studies and ended with 6 which were acceptable. Not a good ratio.
The second point is that the antidepressant were only better than a placebo after a certain level of depression. The placebos were probably inactive placebos without effects such as dry mouth, ringing in the ears, etc. which would mimic some of the effects of the investigated drug.
In sum, there is very little evidence of the usefulness of these drugs.
Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies
