The results showed the drugs were effective only in a very small group of the most extremely depressed.
It showed the drugs produced a "very small" improvement compared with placebo of two points on the 51-point Hamilton depression scale. That was sufficient to grant the drugs a license but did not meet the minimum three-point difference required by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) to establish "clinical" significance.
This might very well be the most scary item on this whole website to some people. 9/11 was an inside job? Sure. My drugs aren't helping? Total avoidance and dismissal.
I know many people who would dismiss this study out of hand simply for not feeling that they have any other solution to their depression. Getting drunk sure makes me feel less depressed some times. That doesn't make it a good solution. And I know a lot of people who would consider themselves a part of that small minority of those for whom the drug did show some benefit.
The bottom line: There is no physical test for depression. No brain scan that demonstrates a "chemical imbalance." When people go in to the psychiatrist, snake oil salesman, or whatever you prefer, they are simply asked to diagnose themselves. "How do you feel?" Then on the basis of a totally subjective expression of emotion, the psychiatrist gives them a drug to take, but in nearly all cases does not give them remotely adequate information about how to determine whether the drug is helping.
This is compounded by the fact that most of these drugs take a couple months to really kick in and then a couple months to come down off of when no longer taking them. But despite that fact, most psychiatrist will start "patients" on a new drug before they are entirely free effects from the old drug. And so these "patients" never really regain an objective base line state from which to judge whether the effects of the drugs they are on. Is it the new drug, the old drug, a mix of the two, or am I feeling worse due to my psychological orientation?
Back to one of our favorite quotes: "The foundation of all mental illness is the avoidance of legitimate suffering" - Jung. In other words most people are literally reinforcing their psychological problems by seeking solutions that avoid the root of the issues they face.
Another bottom line: This is all so very relevant to the issues we are facing with this project and the movement at large. Avoidance is paramount. False solutions are plentiful. People don't choose discomfort.
Western civilization is in dire need of rehab.