This article by Peter Simons has been published by Mad in the UK. It begins:
“In a new article in World Psychiatry, researchers suggest doctors shouldn’t be so quick to hand out antidepressants. They focus on primary care, which is where most antidepressant prescriptions originate. In mild to moderate depression, they write, doctors shouldn’t give antidepressants. Even in severe depression, they question whether antidepressant prescriptions should happen at the first visit.
“’When patients with a depressive condition first visit a general practitioner, they often get the prescription of an antidepressant. We think that it is better to prescribe medication at a later stage, if at all,’ they write.
The researchers were an international team led by Bruce Arroll at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and also included Pim Cuijpers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
They write that most people who present to their primary care provider with depression will have mild to moderate symptoms. About 5% of people in a primary care office have severe depression, according to their data …”
You can read more from here.
