Is it possible that anti-depressants/psychotics/etc are really just placebos?
Do they actually change people’s mood and/or behavior? Or do people just think they work because they are told they would? I was on anti-depressants for a while, and I didn’t notice any mood changes until one day when I decided to change my life around. I stayed on the meds for a bit longer, but I started to get more involved in things and then I got happier. I am no longer on the medication, but I feel it only started working because I decided to make a change with myself and stopped moping around all sad.
Do they actually work?
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Some of them do work for some people for sure. Not just placebos. It can take a while for the medication to kick in and not all drugs are the right ones for all individuals. Each perosn’s experience can be different but I know people for whom they help.
No, they are not placebos.
They are probably not placebos, although there may be some element of a placebo effect involved in their efficacy. All drugs have been tested using double blind randomised control trials. This isn’t a perfect methodology but it’s as good as it gets. The drugs can be compared to placebos, and the placebos do often have some effect but there has to be a significant other effect for a drug to be licenced for a condition or illness
They work for a lot of people. I know a few that I believe that they are life saving drugs for.
They work for my sister. Note that they had to spend about about a year finding the right combination of meds. There wasn’t some magic pill.
No. Studies have been able to determine what a brain with depression and ADD actually looks like in comparison to a normal brain. Then how that same brain looks when it is stable on medication.
Mental illness is an illness, like diabetes, that requires medication. It can take a long time to figure out what medication is the best for each individual and a brain might change and require new medications.
These are meds that save people’s life, including mine. If these meds have a placebo effect it is no difference than the supposed placebo effect on any medication.
@SergeantQueen Sounds like you had situational depression, not clinical depression.
I have been on them for many years and I can tell you they have saved my life.
@anniereborn my doctor said it was clinical. I had it for almost 7 years. Never heard of situtational depression before. What does that mean?
@SergeantQueen You get fired and you lose your apartment and have to live with your parents. You’re depressed about that. That’s situational depression.
No, because science & shit.
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