Do antidepressants cause depression? What new study says

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(CBS) What causes depression? Scientists have identified all sorts of things, from emotional stress and substance abuse to having the wrong genes. And now a provocative new study suggests a cause of depression that few may have suspected:

Taking antidepressant medication.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers of Psychology, showed that depressed people who use antidepressants are far more likely to suffer a relapse of major depression than those who avoid antidepressants.

For the study, McMaster University evolutionary psychologist Dr. Paul Andrews and his colleagues analyzed dozens of previously published studies to compare outcomes for patients who used antidepressants to those for patients who used placebos.They found that antidepressant users have a roughly 42 percent chance of a relapse, as compared with a 25 percent chance for those who shun antidepressant pills.

In other words, the pill poppers are almost twice as susceptible to future bouts of depression - a problem that an estimated 40 percent of all people experience at some point in their lives.

Why would drugs doctors prescribe to alleviate depression cause it to recur? Dr. Andrews told CBS News that antidepressants of all types interfere with the brain's regulation of two neurotransmitters, serotonin and norepinephrine. And once an individual stops taking antidepressants, the brain "overcorrects," triggering new depression.

"These drugs do reduce symptoms, probably to some degree, in the short-term," he said in a written statement. "The trick is what happens in the long term. Our results suggest that when you try to go off the drugs, depression will bounce back. This can leave people stuck in a cycle where they need to keep taking antidepressants to prevent a return of symptoms."

What's the take-away message of the study for people experiencing depression?

"I am not a clinician," he said. "But if it were me, I would certainly avoid antidepressant medication if at all possible. Talking therapies work just as well if not better than antidepressants, and they don't have this increased risk for relapse."

The National Institute of Mental Health has more on depression.

[DrAnnBlakeTracy]

These types of reports will continue to come out and continue to mount in damning evidence against the use of antidepressants. This is the time the world finally gets the truth about prescription medications - the end of the patent. This is how the game is played. This is what ALWAYS happens when patents expire and it is no longer financially worth it to continue buying good press for the drugs.

I began my research and writing on the SSRI antidepressants two decades ago. I thought it would take a year, maybe two, to get the world to see that there had been a terrible mistake and the hypothesis behind these new designer antidepressants was backwards. The science was clear. But I quickly learned that few cared even though I have testified in every FDA Advisory Board meeting held on the SSRI antidepressants!

According to scientific research serotonin is NOT low in depression and anxiety, but elevated. Newer research out of Australia demonstrates an EIGHT times greater level of serotonin in those suffering anxiety disorders leaving the researchers to ask in shock why we are giving these patients drugs that increase their serotonin levels further?

The answer was the same as ever ... $$$$ and lots of it! No other reason.

OF course antidepressants cause depression and the worsening of depression. They do the opposite of what the patient needed to begin with! The metabolism of serotonin is what is low in depression and antidepressants impair serotonin metabolism.

My big question over the past two decades is why on earth did no one else bother to read the research?! Why bother to do research when doctors ignore it?!

Over the next few years we will reach a point where we will look back in absolute horror at the massive amount of damage done by the widespread use of these drugs. The very high cost in lives, tax dollars, pain and suffering will be beyond belief! I know because I have been forced to witness it first hand as I have attempted to warn of this antidepressant-induced nightmare. Doing so has been like trying to hold back a locomotive with one hand! Google SSRIstories to see a database of a few 1000 cases.

God help us now as we work to help people come safely down off these horribly addictive and damaging drugs!

[suncat13]

The problem with studies like this is that they are far too broad in scope. Further, it's completely unreasonable to state that the results represent everyone with depression who is on medication. Depression is not a single disorder, nor does each form respond to any one single treatment method in the same manner. Where one person will respond better to talk therapy than medication, another will find medication more effective(and possibly life saving). The findings of this study are based on results gleaned from other studies,which in and of themselves may have misinterpreted results. Therefore, great caution must be used in drawing any treatment decisons based soley on the results of Dr. Andrew's study. The results are interesting, but certainly not a reason to abandon an effective treatment modality for another.

[psychtruth]

Betcha a bag of chips psychiatry FINALLY comes around and admits that most of these studies coming to the alarming conclusion that antidepressants cause relapse of depression are mistaking relapse for withdrawal. By saying this, they will save the antidepressants' reputation (such as it is) and convince people that those on ADs aren't stuck being depressed, but instead they just have withdrawal symptoms when they get off the meds.

Now, of course, if they say this they'll have to contend with what some of us have known for years: a huge portion of the efficacy studies have been contaminated by this mistaking of withdrawal for relapse, and that will cast huge doubt on the ultimate efficacy of the meds (that is, reinstating the medication doesn't remit the depression, it just stops the withdrawal symptoms which can APPEAR to be depression but are a completely different, pharmacologically induced pathology). And then the public (and psychiatry, secretly) will come to the conclusion that for as long as these pills have been around (about 25 years), only about 1% of the population (that is, the most severely depressed) should have ever been on them in the first place, as studies have time and time again shown that only the most severely depressed respond to SSRIs better than placebo. All the others who were put on these meds for the thinnest of reasons will then be seen as what they are: guinea pigs and VICTIMS.

And to rwsmith: I'm glad the medication is working for you, but please don't draw false medical analogies. There is no scientific evidence that mental illnesses are due to a chemical imbalance or a "malfunctioning brain" in general. Psychiatry doesn't know much more about the cause of mental disorders than it did before the SSRIs and atypicals came out. Your heart malfunction most likely has a clearly defined pathology; your mental illness doesn't. Better to say, "I take my medication and it works. I don't know why it works -- and neither does psychiatry -- but it seems to work."

[jmcmorin]

I agree that antidepressants save lives. I have not a doubt that both my mother and my daughter would not be with us were it not for these meds. No amount of talk therapy could help my daughters anxiety and depression which she has shown signs of since she was 7. As with all conditions there is great variety in severity. One treatment cannot be prescribed for all and antidepressants save lives.

[rwsmith29456]

I know where you are coming from. When I was eight I realized that I had to stop the negative way I was thinking. By the time I was twelve I knew something was wrong with me that positive thinking wouldn't fix. 'Talking therapy' helps, but it is not a cure. Again, it just keeps me out of the mental hospital.

[rwsmith29456]

Perhaps the medical findings are less colored but this article is biased and irresponsible. "Pill poppers", "Anti-depressants interfere with the regulation of two neurotransmitters",(the neurotransmitters need regulation) "when you try to go off drugs depression will bounce back.' "(or quit taking the medication they need) Speaking only for myself antidepressants keep me in society and out of the mental hospital. Should you not take an antibiotic because it will 'interfere' with your staph infection? Does that make you a 'pill popper'? It would have been much better to be able to get along without heart medication if you can, but in my case I would be dead. I'm angry now and I don't want to ramble so I'll sign off.

[kenhamlett]

dcreno said:
"you are responsible for your life and hapiness ..not a pill."

You now have the secret of happiness. Pills are not the answer. Improving your life and perspective on life is the answer. You don't need to pay someone for this.

[dcreno]

ive been on 3 different kinds in the last 8 years and it always made things worse. 1 of them(welbutrin XL) to the point where i couldnt go into a store to buy groceries..it created anxiety where there wasnt any to begin with..very scary...so ive given up.ive come to the realiztion that people in general are depending on a pill for happiness in there life so they dont have to put any effort into it....except in the case were there are serious issues.. you are responsible for your life and hapiness ..not a pill.

[rwsmith29456]

Obviously those meds are not for you. But don't tell the rest of us we just have to buck up and face reality because if your brain is malfunctioning, no amount of positive thinking helps. I take heart meds for the same reason. My heart malfunctions but the meds I take have helped correct my condition. Without them I would have died (doctor's diagnosis). Well, the brain is malfunctioning and wishing it away won't help.