Article archive / December 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 4. Source pages: 13.
The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth. by Dr. Irving Kirsch
After attending the impressive and informative Fall LPA workshop by Dr. Irving Kirsch, I bought his book: The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth. This is a must read for those interested in careful research and the truth about regulation of pharmaceuticals by the FDA. Kirsch's meta-analytic work uncovers the minimally incremental drug antidepressant effect over placebo. We also learn that the rules for the FDA approval of medications fall woefully short of real science, permitting approval after two statistically (but not clinically meaningful) trials even though there may be many more trials that are nonsignificant or in the other direction. This is a fascinating and compelling read for anyone interested in this area, but especially for the involved practitioner.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.