New Study Claims That Antidepressants Don’t Lead to Better Quality of Life

Scientists don't know how depression works and we might not know how effective antidepressants are.

A new study published in the open-access journal PLOS One found that there is not much quantifiable improvement in the quality of life for people who take antidepressants.

The data from the years 2005 through 2015 in the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey was examined in the peer-reviewed paper.

There was a noticeable increase in mental health outcomes among the whole MEPS cohort, but there was no difference between those who were on antidepressants and those who weren't.

As with all meta-analyses, studies which analyze data from other, larger, and longer-term studies should be contextualized within the researchers' methods. Quality of life is needed in long-term studies evaluating the impact of non-pharmacological interventions on these patients, according to a paper by the King Saud University.

There is a growing sense of skepticism about the status quo of depression treatment. In The Nation last month, writer PE Moskowitz made a case that highlighted the dangers of taking antidepressants and the benefits that come with them.

A wave of research suggests that the drugs are less effective and more dangerous than previously thought.

There is no established mechanism for how and why depression happens, and there is also scholarship suggesting that the once-prevailing hypothesis holds much less.

The King Saud researchers wrote that research on whether antidepressants are effective should be done.

The paper concludes that the long term-management of depression needs to be further evaluated in an effort to improve the ultimate goal of care for these patients.

Antidepressants and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with depression is an analysis of the medical expenditure panel survey from the United States.

A new study shows that mushrooms are as effective as antidepressants.