"We conclude that that the placebo-breaking-the-blind theory has come to influence the current view on the efficacy of antidepressants to a greater extent than can be justified by available data". (Department of Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, May 30 - 2017)

This study is an indicator that these SSRI medications really work. Until now those who criticize the use of antidepressants have linked lowering in depressed mood to placebo because they thought that when people felt nausea and other known side effects, they thought that they were given antidepressants (that means thought they were not in the control group) and reported that they had become better because they believed they had become better (some sort of fooling themselves). This study indicates that it is not about fooling oneself, but it is a real effect (small or bigger) of the antidepressive medication.

May be people should be very careful when they advise their friends and relatives to stop taking their medication without consulting their doctor.

We are all different and we have different expectations to medication. Some feel that they are not helped if they are not fully recovered while others are thankful for some sort of relief. Sure there will be people that don't respond well to these drugs. That's a pity for them, but that does not mean that these pills cannot be helpful for others.

I'm posting this so that those who have had some sort of relief from depression when using SSRI might be able to think both one, two or three times before they stop using medication that can be good for them.

Remember those who want you to use so-called natural drugs earn money on their pills as well ....

http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vao...tcallback=true

[Sunflower123]

Very informative. Thank you for sharing.

[with or without you]

I can personally vouch for the dangers of going off meds without supervision. I started taking Paxil (paroxetine) when I was an 18 year old kid in 1999. At that point, my social anxiety was way worse than my depression. As time passed I can count around 3 or 4 depressive episodes but I got through them. By 2010-11 I was feeling pretty good and but I was tired of how I looked. I was 180 pounds (I'm a 5'5" woman) because I was hungry all the time - the Paxil. I decided to seek out a psychiatrist for an evaluation to see about maybe lowering the dose or switching to another med. However, this woman made some rather cutting remarks to me, she acted very unprofessionally, and I never went back. I made the fateful decision of tapering off the med myself, and around 10 months later I found myself in the worst depression I had ever been in my life and I was on the brink of having to go to a daily outpatient program at a hospital. This was in 2012 and I have unfortunately never been the same since. At the beginning of this year, my therapist suggested that I seek another opinion of a psychiatrist who she holds in very high esteem. I have seen 2 pdocs since the 2012 breakdown. I took her advice, and she was not wrong. He said that after reviewing my history, Paxil was the most successful because I have equal trouble with depression and anxiety and I had never felt as badly (pre-2012) as I have in the past 5 years. He also pointed out that the other drugs I tried since Paxil do not "hit on" anxiety enough which has left me in dependence on benzos. It was a revelation.

For my part, I came to the realization that I thought I had just "grown out" of my social anxiety and what other people thought of me. No. It was the Paxil doing its job. I try very hard not to beat myself up about this, but I was 29 when I thought I was finally OK, like I had reached the "it gets better" apex. I had heard from so many people who said their 30s are the best years of their lives, they don't care what people think of them anymore and they're more comfortable with themselves.

I have just turned 36 and I'm afraid of my own shadow all over again. I just spent the holiday weekend holed up in my bedroom with the curtains closed in an on/off state of sleeping and playing iPhone games, afraid to leave my home because everything seems like a monumental chore. I am finding it harder and harder as the years go on to enjoy anything in life or to stop worrying that I'm going to have a panic attack if I go out somewhere. I can't see a future for myself where things are better and I have no goals. I've cut off friends and when my depression is at its worst, I can become quite nasty and irritable and then I have to go on the apology circuit.

Pdoc and I are still trying to get the meds sorted out. Both he and my therapist have teared up while sitting with me.

Don't go off your meds without talking to a professional, folks.