Study: 69 Percent Of People On Antidepressants Do Not Meet Criteria For Clinical Depression

There is an interesting study out in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry that has concluded that the majority of people taking antidepressants may not actually have depression. The study found that more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of people taking antidepressants did not meet the criteria for major depressive disorder, or clinical depression.

Some 38 per cent of those taking the drugs did not meet the criteria for obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia or generalised anxiety disorder either. More than two thirds of people taking antidepressants did not meet the criteria for clinical depression.

The researchers believe that doctors are prescribing the drugs without real “evidence-based indications.” Instead, it appears that people who are experiencing normal periods of blues or unhappiness are being put on these regimes. The official guidelines state that clinical depression should be diagnosed if a person has five or more depressive symptoms over a two week period. These periods are supposed to cover most of each day and nearly every day.

The United States is not the most medicated. That position belongs to Iceland with 106 doses a day for every 1,000 inhabitants — followed by Australia, Canada, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal. The lowest levels? Chile and South Korea.

Source: Daily Mail