Are drugs like Prozac less effective than we think?
(DYSTHYMIA.COM)
The first salvo against antidepressants came from a study led by Erick Turner, MD, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health & Science University. After reviewing the entire mass of drug-company studies submitted to the FDA (where he once worked as a reviewer) in the approval process for 12 antidepressants, Dr. Turner and his fellow researchers reported that 94% of the studies with positive results were later published, while only 14% with negative or ambiguous results found their way into print.
This so-called "file-drawer effect" has made antidepressants appear more effective than they actually are, at least to physicians and the public. "There is a view that these drugs are effective all the time," Dr. Turner told The Wall Street Journal. When he would tell other doctors that antidepressants work only 40% to 50% of the time, they would protest, "What are you talking about? I have never seen a negative study."
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