Mild depression - the drugs don't work

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Antidepressants may be no better than a placebo for people with mild or moderate depression, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In a review of six trials of antidepressants involving more than 700 patients, researchers led by Jay Fournier from the University of Pennsylvania found the drugs helped only those patients with the most severe forms of the disorder. Most trials excluded patients with milder depression, the authors said.

Doctors, policy makers and consumers should be made aware that there’s little evidence to show antidepressants will benefit the majority of patients with less severe symptoms, Fournier and colleagues wrote in the study published yesterday.

“This important feature of the evidence base is not reflected in the implicit messages present in the marketing of these medications to clinicians and the public,” they said.

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