Abstract
This paper attempts to provide a substantial material for the participation in an argument concerning the clinical effectiveness of antidepressant medications. The paper presents a summary of the perspective reflected in the article by Sharon Begley that explores whether or not the drugs prescribed for depression produce any significant effect, as the recent studies have demonstrated that the results of medication treatment of depression do not differ much from those of the treatment with placebo.
Further in the paper, I express my own opinion on the subject that maintains that even though medication treatment is not as effective as desired, it is the best approach for the patients for severe cases of depression whereas the individuals affected by milder depression benefit from psychotherapy. My opinion is supported by the findings presented in the article “Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity a Patient-Level Meta-analysis”. In addition, the article includes a statement of personal experience related to the topic.
Article Summary
The article by Begley (2010) presents the question of the efficacy of the medication as the depression treatment as a moral dilemma saying that there is evidence that supports very low effectiveness of antidepressants, however, communicating this reality to the patients would decrease their level of trust in medicine and hope for recovery that are essential elements of battling depression. That way, the author points out that the issue can be viewed as a social trap where marketing of the expensive depression medication seems to take over the truth of scientific findings. However, a small percentage of effectiveness of antidepressants has been proved scientifically, and that is why the author is curious about the mechanism that makes antidepressants work. Besides, making the results of drugs’ ineffectiveness public would agitate the physicians who would become unable to help their multiple depressed patients.
Moreover, it would evoke questions at the FDA as to the necessity of approval of clinically inefficient drugs (Begley, 2010). The concluding point of the author is that the main features that make the depression medications effective – the patients’ trust and hope are likely to be killed once the truth about the actual effectiveness is revealed.
Reaction
I was surprised to learn that the efficiency of antidepressants was so low. For some reason, I believed that since the drugs of this type had a significant impact on the patients’ health causing withdrawal once they stop taking the pills, they were supposed to influence the chemistry of the brain and minimize depression. On the one hand, such evidence empowers the therapists and the patients who do not want to take powerful antidepressants battling their disorder but hope to overcome it by other means relying on their endurance and cognition. On the other hand, the patients with lower self-esteem (which is common among the depressed individuals) who hope that medicine is the best way out would be shocked to learn that the medication that cost them a significant financial investment can be equalized to a placebo pill in its effect.
Point of view and Support
In my opinion, the fact that antidepressants produce little to no chemical impact on the brain of a patient affected by depression does not mean that they are useless. First of all, medication is a strong cornerstone of treatment not only chemically but emotionally. As Begley’s (2010) research shows, antidepressants serve as a source of hope for recovery. Attaching this hope to a material medication and paying a significant sum of money for it strengthens its emotional effect among the individuals living in the modern world where price is often associated with quality. Multiple self-help techniques are based on visualization technique.
In my opinion, a pill provides a replacement of visualization for the patients in need of a guarantee for positive result in the future. Moreover, antidepressants are not completely ineffective. As proved in the study by Fournier, DeRubeis, Hollon, Dimidjian, Amsterdam, Shelton, and Fawcett (2010), in the cases of severe depression antidepressants prove to demonstrate substantial positive effect compared to placebo. Besides, the study states that the effect of antidepressants is not to be generalized as depression is a rather individual problem where each patient is to be approached uniquely (Fournier et al., 2010). Finally, some of the studies reviewed during the meta-analysis of Fournier et al. (2010) showed the pharmacological efficacy of antidepressants in patients with dysthymia.
Implications
The study findings imply that the patients with milder levels of depression should prefer therapy to medication especially when they are aware of the low efficiency of the drugs. However, the pills cannot be proclaimed as completely useless as they make an evidential difference for some patients, yet, the connection of this effect to the emotional contents of the pills is still to be researched.
Personal Experience
I have not been treated for depression, but I have a friend who has spent a year taking several courses of antidepressants one after another. He claimed that medications brought no improvement, but made him feel numb and apathetic which led to his divorce. His treatment was stopped due to his request. He experienced no withdrawal and instantly felt much happier. It has been a year since the treatment was stopped and no relapse has been noticed.
References
Begley, S. (2010). The Depressing News about Antidepressants. Newsweek, 34. Web.
Fournier, J., DeRubeis, R., Hollon, S., Dimidjian, S., Amsterdam, J., Shelton, R., & Fawcett, J. (2010). Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity. JAMA, 303(1), 47. Web.