Against Depression, a Sugar Pill Is Hard to Beat

Washington Post ^ | May 7, 2002 | Shankar Vedantam

[liberallarry]

After thousands of studies, hundreds of millions of prescriptions and tens of billions of dollars in sales, two things are certain about pills that treat depression: Antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft work. And so do sugar pills.

[liberallarry]

Global warming and evolution are not the only areas where scientific evidence is misunderstood or overstated for political or commercial reasons - or simply because people are desperate. This world is HARD TO UNDERSTAND.

[the]

I know that I get a little crabby and depressed if I don't get my daily sugar fix.

Maybe they should replace sugar pills with Broccoli pills! ;-)

[sonserae]

It really is all in their head.

[Alas]

Against Depression, a Sugar Pill Is Hard to Beat

In the secular world my guess would be that you are right.

But, in the Born Again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb, Christian world, the Word of God and the word of God is all we need. And neither will rot our teeth.
Alas

[Amore]

It has been known for a long time that a certain percentage of people will feel better when given a placebo -- and that goes for any type of medicine, not just for anti-depressants. I've participated in blind clinical trials and I can assure you I know the difference between placebos and real anti-depressants. Thank heavens that at least some people are moving beyond the '50's mentality that people who are depressed just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and get over it!

[Lazamataz]

Thank heavens that at least some people are moving beyond the '50's mentality that people who are depressed just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and get over it!

I prefer to beat them until they are smiling again.

[Sam Cree]

One thing I'm pretty sure of though, from my own experience, is that sugar consumption increases anxiety to a considerable degree. Since I quit drinking soda, eating sweets and starch (in other words, drastically reduced sugar in my diet) I've been amazed at how calm I've become relative to before.

I'm not sure what the relationship is between anxiety and depression, but I'm fairly sure that sugar is a player.

[DrDavid]

George Herbert Walker Bush wouldn't take them!

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #1

One of the problems we have today is that the defintion of depression has become really broad. It got that way because the criteria for dianosing depression is not precisely defined. That is because we still have poor understanding of how human brain controls emotion. There was a lot of progress. But we just go out of the dark age. It does not help that complex system like human brain can be made to produce the same results using different means and approaches, either. That is the nature of complex system. There are many ways to get to the same objective. In this case, harnessing the innate mechanism of human preception (make them feel good), and medication can both work. However, some serious case would be difficult to be treated with feeling good alone. Their underlying biochemical or neurological problem cannot be reversed in this way.

[Sam Cree]

I bet you the word of God tells us to go easy on the sugar.

[Amore]

Sugar and anxiety, maybe. In anxiety, you are hyped up as people can get with sugar and/or caffeine. But sugar and depression, no. Depression mean you are down, way down. There's never going to be an easy answer. The human brain is quite complicated biologically.

[Sam Cree]

So, are clinical depression and anxiety sort of opposites?

[scholar]

Like the majority of information about depression in the media this article chaps my hide.

Anti-depressants were developed to treat patients with Major Clinical Depression. I saw nothing in this article that differentiated a major clinical depression from any other depressive episode. Anti-depressants are now presribed for anyone having a bad day.

Placebos have been proven efficacious in the treatment of many conditions, but I question the validity of those diagnosis.

[monkey]

His analysis of 96 antidepressant trials between 1979 and 1996 showed that in 52 percent of them, the effect of the antidepressant could not be distinguished from that of the placebo.

He doesn't say that these were for approved drugs. It really makes the comparison meaningless. Also, "indistinguished" may mean that there was a trend, but not statistical significance. Some drugs may work for a (perhaps undetermined) subset of sufferers. Nevertheless, the article raises an interesting subject.

Is it really surprising that the placebo effect can be seen on PET scans? Where else would one expect to find it?

[DallasMike]

But, in the Born Again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb, Christian world, the Word of God and the word of God is all we need.

Though I think that I understand your sentiment, it's very naive and not at all Biblical. Did the Good Samaritan provide the injured man care and medicine or did he just pray for him? See also the book of James.

[WilliamWallace1999]

As with all medical research, you also need to watch for bias by the investigator. He is a psychiatrist. The advent of effective anti-depressants has had a marked negative effect on the financial status of many in his profession. When the family doc could deal with a substantial percentage of mild to moderate depression, the insurance companies began to slash and burn the reimbursement for therapy. The goal of this researcher may have been to support the null hypothesis and covertly support the call by psychiatrist for more therapy and less drugs. If you don't think data can be manipulated by selection bias and and sensitvity testing, I suggest a course on statistics at the junior college. As one who has published medical literature in the past, I can assure you that bullshitometers must always be set on high suspicion. There are liars, damn liars, and statisticians. This article is simply another volley in the turf war between primary care and psychiatry.

WW

[AmericaUnited]

Excess sugar consumption causes depression. This is like saying a couple of shots of booze helps with a hangover, or another fix of drugX helps cure the withdrawal symptoms.

[liberallarry]

Bullshitometers are the most valuable instruments ever invented. Hard to come by though - and very expensive if you find a good one.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #16

One may not even need a family doc prescribing a medication for moderate depression. Simple consultation might do. Using a psychiatrist as a confidente-in-hire per hour can be a bottomless pit. The therapist or psychiatrist are not some kind of Yoda-reincarnates who will make you figure out of your presonal emotional problem.

[Catholicguy]

Like the majority of information about depression in the media this article chaps my hide. Anti-depressants were developed to treat patients with Major Clinical Depression. I saw nothing in this article that differentiated a major clinical depression from any other depressive episode. Anti-depressants are now presribed for anyone having a bad day. Placebos have been proven efficacious in the treatment of many conditions, but I question the validity of those diagnosis.

There are many interesting studies; including the Vermont Longitudinal study of schizophrenics which, roughly, concluded that over 25 years or so, Schizophrenics will manifest similar symptoms and coping abilities etc whethr or not they have taken organ-destroying antipsychotic medication.

Many seem to think the brain is something that controls us rather than an organ used by the indestructible soul to exercise its attributes of will, intellect and memory