lunes, 28 de febrero de 2011

Picture this:

Have you ever wondered what happened to the patients of the Kirsch study once they were treated or once the studies/trials had stopped? We know that these patients were not severely depressed and their depression did not improve after standard (?) antidepressant treatment. Recall that placebo was as effective as antidepressants. So, if they were "non responders" but, nevertheless, they did not suffer from severe depression, where would they go? How would they be treated? Would they turn into patients with "Treatment Resistant Depression"? I am afraid that this is very likely. What we are left then is with a group - an inmense group? - of patients who initially did not suffer from a severe form of depression and who have turned into patients that are now resistant to treatment (!). Isn't this awful? But there are other alternatives that are even more sinister: it is said that patients with bipolar depression do not improve when treated with antidepressants; the obvious inference is the temptation of diagnosing this patients as bipolar patients. Thus, we started with a group of patients with mild symptoms of depression who are now either "Treatment resistant" or "Bipolar." This is not just a product of my vivid imagination, it is happening day in and day out in a number of Mood Disorder Units all over the world.

And this, is my first post in English in three years! Is it intelligible? Hopefully!

Consider this a test run.

1 comentario:

Anónimo dijo...

it is!