Writing in CounterPunch, Bruce Levine reviews Joanna Moncrieff’s new book Chemically Imbalanced.
“To be clear, Moncrieff is not anti-drug, but rather anti-bullshitting patients about psychiatric drugs. While antidepressants don’t work by correcting any mythical chemical imbalance, it is true that studies show that from 25 to 35 percent of depressed patients report short-term benefits; however, those receiving a placebo do just as well. And in the long term, more depressed people remit from depression without antidepressants than by using them.
When taking antidepressants, as is the case with any psychotropic drug, there is going to be a placebo effect, and because of the noticeable side effects of antidepressants, this placebo effect is what scientists call an “amplified” one. Moncrieff notes, “Alongside placebo and amplified placebo effects, there is the possibility that antidepressants improve people’s depression scores by numbing their emotions . . . . People frequently described a numbing or blunting of emotions . . . . They reported being less in touch with their feelings, being unable to cry, feeling uncaring or unmotivated, and some felt they were no longer themselves.”
Some people, at least for a time, might prefer this emotional blunting, but this is not curing depression. Moreover, antidepressants create all types of adverse effects, including sexual dysfunction and severe withdrawal problems, especially with long-term use.”
