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> oversimplifications that helped sell semi efficacious drugs YES. Anyone who has rotated through the kaleidoscope of antidepressants seeking help knows this i

> oversimplifications that helped sell semi efficacious drugs YES. Anyone who has rotated through the kaleidoscope of antidepressants seeking help knows this in their bones. Current pharma options barely work and come with many unpleasant side effects.

pas 5y ago
At the same time many people got their life back thanks to those lame drugs. It's not a panacea.
- RobertRoberts 5y ago
  To be fair, you have to consider a placebo effect for those same people.
- fighterpilot 5y ago
  The evidence that this isn't just placebo is pretty weak. At least 4/5ths of the effect is placebo. The evidence is especially weak for people with only moderate depression, where there's literally no difference with placebo. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/
  - bserge 5y ago
    There is so much more to it than serotonin. Sadly, few doctors care enough.
  - pas 5y ago
    Kirsch’s study lumps all antidepressants together. Eg Paxil showed an effect size of 0.47, compared to Serzone’s 0.21. (After substracting the placebo effect's size of 1.2) Suppose that antidepressants were a growth hormone pill taken by short people. An effect size of 0.3 (standard deviation) is equivalent to a body height pill making you grow 0.8 in (2 cm), with placebo that's 2.6 in (6.6 cm). https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/ssris-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/ssris-much-more-than-y... https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/11/07/ssris-an-update/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/11/07/ssris-an-update/