Pretty short article, this quote sums it up: "When the results of all trials submitted to America’s medicines regulator between 1979 and 2016 were scrutinised b

Pretty short article, this quote sums it up: "When the results of all trials submitted to America’s medicines regulator between 1979 and 2016 were scrutinised by independent scientists, it turned out that antidepressants had a substantial benefit beyond a placebo effect in only 15% of patients." It's unclear what paper they refer to, as it is not linked. This article (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/) has many citations to papers that cover this stuff. I think the important take away is in "Antidepressant drug effects and depression severity: a patient-level meta-analysis" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20051569/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20051569/): "Results: Medication vs placebo differences varied substantially as a function of baseline severity. Among patients with HDRS scores below 23, Cohen d effect sizes for the difference between medication and placebo were estimated to be less than 0.20 (a standard definition of a small effect). Estimates of the magnitude of the superiority of medication over placebo increased with increases in baseline depression severity and crossed the threshold defined by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for a clinically significant difference at a baseline HDRS score of 25. Conclusions: The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo increases with severity of depression symptoms and may be minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. For patients with very severe depression, the benefit of medications over placebo is substantial. " Short version: if your depression is mild, antidepressants may not work better than a placebo (though placebos are not exactly nothing). If it's severe, there is more of a chance it'll really help, From my personal experience, I can definitely attest to them helping, though they are not by any means a magic bullet.