 so interesting
Scientific info on very common drugs. I suspected this for a long time and now have proof. I mailed this to several psychology friends and psychiatrists. This book raises many ethical questions for practioners.
Hope as Placebo
Irving Kirsch presents exquisite and exhaustive research which concludes antidepressant drugs are in fact, placebos. He explains why and how placebos work. He argues against the chemical imbalance theory of depression and says it has never been proven. He also compares outcomes of Cognitive Behavioral therapy with and without antidepressant medication and concludes that a patient's "hope" for recovery is the fulcrum on which successful treatment rests. As a clinician, I have experienced the power of hope in alleviating suffering in moderately and severely depressed diagnosed patients and those in the throes of an existential crisis, which often is misdiagnosed as depression or an anxiety disorder. Sometimes in treatment, less is more. Kirsch states that SSRIs can help ... as much as any placebo... but instilling hope in a patient is what really works; there are no detrimental side effects, and hope and tools aquired in CBT have been shown to have more lasting results.
Kudos to Kirsch!
My first awareness of Dr. Kirsch was on a DVD called Placebo: Mind Over Medicine?, where he participated in a segment regarding antidepressants. It's available from Films for the Humanities and Sciences. It's a real eye opener with respect to the placebo effect!
Both informative and entertaining, The Emperor's New Drugs tell a chilling tale of Big Pharma, Inc, and the machinery that brings to market the drugs that are the mainstay of modern medicine. While we have many life enhancing drugs available to us, the history of antidepressants is both revealing and disturbing. It appears that the creation and propagation of antidepressants is less about science's quest to treat a debilitating condition, and more about profits made at the expense of the uninformed consumer. Kirsch doesn't argue that antidepressants don't work, but reveals that the reason they work is largely the result of the placebo effect. In other words, what makes them effective is our belief in them, not the active ingredient in the pills themselves. Maybe it's time for placebo pills to make a come back from the early days of medicine, where the active ingredient is belief, and there are no dangerous side effects. If patients understood how to leverage the power of beliefs to trigger the self-healing response, modern medicine would take a giant leap forward, and patients could take a more active role in their own healing process.
In addition to the research about antidepressants, I believe the most important message in Kirsch's book to clinicians and lay people alike, is that our beliefs can powerfully affect our health and general wellbeing. When will modern medicine stop trying to factor the placebo effect out of the equation for health, and start figuring out how to leverage the mind as medicine? The honest answer is, the day the placebo effect can be bottled and sold commercially. Sad, but probably true. It seems that the use of the mind as medicine will be left to mind/body researchers who are willing to look beyond the current medical model.
A Must Read Book
Outstanding book. Well documented indictment of the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry, and their much too cozy relationship.
 Must read for patients and doctors
I'm glad I read this book, as it is a fearless critique of the current crazefor prescribing antidepressants for patients even slightly depressed. Kirsch makes the convincing case, with empirical evidence, that antidepressants do not work significantly better than placebos in the vast majority of patients. He also attacks the common belief that depression is a brain disorder. It is a fascinating read--especially the part on "placebo surgery"-- that I highly recommend to anyone who is depressed and seeking help. What you know may not necessarily be so.
|
