Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials
There are many who view chiropractic as being unscientific and think there is no evidence to support its use. This attitude permeates much of alternative medicine. Closer to reality, there is research to support alternative medicine, and massive volumes to support functional medicine. Rarely, however, is money to be made on the basis of a published article or two.
This is not true for pharmaceutical research. Quite the opposite. It has gotten to the point that the bias inherent in drug research is so massive and widespread that one has to step back and look and wonder if ANY is truly valid. I can tell you from my standpoint, as someone who reads a lot of medical literature, the evidence supporting MOST of what mainstream medicine does is shaky at best, downright dangerous at worse.
In this particular review, it was found that when the negative studies were thrown into the mix with all the other studies, there is NO evidence to support the use of antidepressants in normal clinical use. It’s not that there are isolated cases of positive response–there are. But for the number of patients on antidepressants given the very weak evidence of benefit (and a long litany of nasty side effects) it is inexcusable. Exercise 3 days a week shows improvements in mood dwarfing medication’s effects. But few stand to make billions on treadmills alone.