Meditation 'works just as well as anti-depressants'

[pnwmom]

34. Actually, the research says that SSRI's don't work better than placebo

for most cases of depression -- all except the most severe. So, for those milder cases, meditation might actually work better.

But you are one of those who have been helped, so that's good.


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13375-prozac-does-not-work-in-majority-of-depressed-patients.html#.Usu2QhbvxTQ

The antidepressant Prozac and related drugs are no better than placebo in treating all but the most severely depressed patients, according to a damaging assessment of the latest generation of antidepressants.

SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, were supposed to revolutionise care of depression - by treating symptoms without the side effects of older drugs, such as tricyclics.

But despite selling in vast quantities, a new meta-analysis of these drugs, from data presented to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), appears to suggest that for most patients they do not work. A previous study had indicated that the benefits of antidepressants might be exaggerated.

SNIP

They did detect some benefits in the most severely depressed patients. But conclude that in this group the small effect is "due to decreased responsiveness to placebo, rather than increased responsiveness to medication".