Placebo Defeats Zoloft in 3-year Depression Study - Duke University

[JackRiddler]

Mainstream Media, Doctors, Spin Obvious Results Into Their Opposite.

http://www.islamset.com/healnews/alternat/on_depression.html

On depression, placebo proves helpful
Participants reported St. John's wort was less so.
Experts say simply getting help makes a difference.

By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer

For treating moderately severe depression, a sugar pill worked better than a popular herbal supplement and rivaled the prescription antidepressant Zoloft on most measures of effectiveness, according to a new study.

(AND WHAT DOES "RIVALED" MEAN?)

In the study, 340 patients from 12 psychiatric clinics across the country were randomly assigned to take placebo, St. John's wort (the plant hypericum), or Zoloft (known chemically as sertraline) for eight weeks.

Overall, 32 percent of the placebo group ended up with better scores on key tests of depression severity, compared with 24 percent of patients taking St. John's wort and 25 percent taking Zoloft. The tests measured depressive symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety and loss of appetite.

(OH, I SEE: placebo "rivals" by being clearly ahead; Zoloft over St. John's by 1 percent is a clear victory for Zoloft. Luckily, the doctor-statisticians can fix this apparent anomaly...)

Although Zoloft fell short on this overall measure, it was more effective than placebo or St. John's wort on a scale that measured patients' clinical improvement. In addition, 23 percent of patients on Zoloft showed a partial response, compared with only 14 percent on the herb and 11 percent on placebo.

BEFORE YOU ATTACK: I know the woman who was the head research assistant on this study, and she told me that the results inspired quite the crisis among the docs, until they could spin them appropriately...

[kittenpants]

1. how much for this "placebo" you speak of?!

I want to buy it! *waves cash around*

[Mari333]

2. Zoloft should NEVER be prescribed by a General Practitioner

unfortunately, many GPs do prescribe it like candy..only a qualified psychiatrist should prescribe it..and that is only after all other avenues have been exhausted..sadly, the pharmaceutical industry has its hook$ into MDs,and they hand the stuff out as samples..I stay away from MDs as much as I can.

[bullimiami]

3. my wifes new ad campaign for zoloft...

"Nothings better than Zoloft"

no, really, nothing.

[JackRiddler]

7. I bet heroin is better

But they won't let us have it. Why not?

[SoCalDem]

4. Often, when seriously depressed people finally seek help,

that act alone can make them improve. People are also conditioned to believe that "medicine cures you", so it never surprises me that placebos work too.

Patients also try to please their shrinks, and sometimes say they feel better than they really do. To admit that you are not getting better is just another failure..

[mediaman007]

5. Tom Cruise could have told you that...

I bet that unprocessed sugar cane or honey would be the ultimate placebo. (/sarcasm)

[kittenpants]

6. no no, the placebo must have been some sort of raw food

to have such a miraculous effect!

[athena]

8. The placebo effect ROCKS!

I was on Celexa and Wellbutrin for about four years, and while they helped a bit, they also made me completely asexual. Then I read an article that explained that anti-depressants never perform all that much better than placebo in trials and that most of the benefits of anti-depressants can be traced to the placebo effect, and I stopped taking them. Now I take basic vitamins, minerals and fish oil every day, and have succeeded in fooling myself into thinking they really "work". I'm doing just as well as I ever did on Celexa and Wellbutrin, if not better. And it's great to be sexual again!

The placebo effect really needs to be studied better. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Why pay hundreds of dollars and suffer sexual side effects when you can get the same benefits from vitamins or sugar pills?