Do Antidepressants Work?

Do antidepressant medications work? The question may seem an odd one to ask these days. More than one in 10 Americans have prescriptions for antidepressants, which rake in sales of almost $10 billion in the United States alone. Yet for years, researchers have questioned whether the intensively advertised drugs are truly effective. One of the first to cast doubt was psychologist Irving Kirsch, professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut and now a professor of psychology at the University of Hull in England. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on psychiatric drugs and the placebo effect, he is the author of The Emperor’s New Drugs, as well as more than 200 research papers. … Back to Article