‘Keep on taking the tablets’

By Simon Tostevin

ISLANDERS on antidepressants should not panic and stop using them, despite newly-published research suggesting that taking certain types is a waste of time.

Researchers in the USA used freedom of information laws and reviewed clinical trials to analyse data on modern antidepressants such as Prozac, Effexor and Seroxat and found that for mildly depressed people, many of them worked no better than dummy pills.

But Geraldine O’Riordan, prescribing adviser to Social Security and Health and Social Services, said it was important to read behind the headlines of the research.

She said about 5,000 islanders were given antidepressant prescriptions in December.

‘I think the key point is that the antidepressants didn’t fail to work, it was just that the placebo effect was greater than they expected.

‘The perception that antidepressants are overused is incorrect. It’s important to realise that depression is a very serious illness. Patients shouldn’t be alarmed at the result of this study. It’s nothing new and the data has been around for a while.’

One of the study’s authors, Professor Irving Kirsch, claimed the results showed that unless alternative treatments had failed, there was little reason to prescribe such medication to any but the most severely depressed patients.

He said the study raised serious issues that needed to be addressed surrounding drug licensing and how trial data was reported.

Mrs O’Riordan said people should not stop taking their medicine as a result of the findings.

‘People should remain calm. The decision to start on one of these drugs is taken seriously. People should not stop taking them straightaway and they should wait to talk to their doctor at their next appointment.

‘When they are prescribed, they need to be taken for three to six months for them to be effective.’

Mrs O’Riordan admitted that the figure of 5,000 people locally on antidepressants was quite high, but said Guernsey as a rule issued more prescriptions than some other places.

‘Our use of medicine is higher,’ she said.