Eleanor Hayward Health, reporting for the Daily Mail, writes:
“Doctors should stop prescribing antidepressants because there is no decent clinical evidence that they work better than a placebo, a study has found.
About one in six British adults take the tablets, but there is rising concern about their overuse and the risk of withdrawal symptoms and side-effects.
Experts at University College London reviewed all existing evidence on common antidepressants and concluded there remains ‘considerable uncertainty about the benefits’.
They urged doctors to give the drugs ‘to fewer patients, for shorter periods of time’ because so many struggle when they stop taking them.
The study found that much of the evidence came from trials lasting just six to 12 weeks and the ‘results don’t meet the threshold for a clinically important difference’ between antidepressants and placebo pills …”
You can read more from here.
PS. The article headline contains an error, by mistakenly omitting the the crucial words “do not” [work better].
