[snowflake]

For this project I’m doing on the effectiveness of antidepressants I had an interview with a professor at a local university who has done a lot of research on antidepressants. I asked her how effective she thought antidepressants are and she gave me this answer. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
I would say that antidepressants are not very effective at all. Antidepressants are often looked upon as a “magic bullet” that cures a chemical imbalance in the brain however there has been no concrete evidence to support this hypothesis that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. I think that a better way of understanding how they work is that they are psychoactive drugs that mask people’s true feelings and creates a drug induced state. These drugs make people feel emotionally and physically different which can affect their mental condition. Antidepressants in my view do more harm than good and simply mask the problem instead of curing it. There hasn’t been enough evidence proving that antidepressants actually cure depression and recent studies have shown that antidepressants are hardly better than a placebo
<o:p></o:p>
Later on, she went onto say that she thinks antidepressants do not work with anyone and that they should never be prescribed. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Her view seemed slightly extreme to me but as I’ve never taken antidepressants I wanted other people’s opinion on this- do you agree/ disagree with her? How effective are antidepressants?<o:p></o:p>