‘Keep on taking the tablets’

Wednesday 27th February 2008, 2:29PM GMT.

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.