Hi, I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson, and you're listening to episode 8 of the savvy psychologist.

I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

We'll use the best of psychology to help you be happy, relaxed, and most importantly,

yourself.

Antidepressants have been hailed as miracle drug rock stars and vilified as brain-changing happy pills. All promotion aside, good or bad, are they effective?

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 13% of Americans, more than 1 in 10, take an antidepressant. Of women between the ages of

between the ages of 50 and 64 nearly one in four

take an antidepressant.

Second only to antibiotics,

antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed class of medication.

Now to clarify, when I say antidepressants, I mean the most common of many classes of antidepressants,

the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs, like Prozac,

Sollexa, Lexopro, Paxil, or Zoloft. They're safer and cause fewer side effects than the other older types of antidepressants.

So do they work or do they not work?

The answer to both questions seems to be yes.

I know that's a frustrating answer, so let's look at each side. We'll start with the claim that they don't work.

A 2008 study led by Dr. Irving Kirsch of Harvard Medical School started a big ruckus in the mental health world.

He and his colleagues re-analyzed 35 different antidepressant drug trials submitted to the FDA for the licensing of Prozac, Effexer, Sarzone, and Paxil.

He used the Freedom of Information Act to get access not only to the studies that showed the drugs

worked, but also to the studies that didn't show an effect,

which were, unfortunately, most of them.

For individuals with mild to moderate depression, they found that treatment with an antidepressant

...