Antidepressants Don’t Work the Way Many People Think

November 9, 2022

(New York Times) – Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety soared, and many Americans turned to antidepressant medication to help them cope. Even before the emergence of Covid, 1 in 8 American adults was taking an antidepressant drug. According to one estimate, that number rose by 18.6 percent during 2020. Zoloft is now the 12th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States. Given this, you might assume that the question of how — and how well — these drugs work has been clearly answered. And yet recent papers have challenged their efficacy and actions in the brain. Some researchers even say the medications are barely better than a placebo and ask whether they warrant such widespread use. (Read More)