Depressed patients urged to continue medication

By JO-MARIE BAKER
People prescribed anti-depressant pills should keep taking them.
That's the advice today from a top Bay doctor in the wake of a new study claiming they don't work.
The study _ one of the largest into popular drugs, including Prozac _ has found the pills have no "clinically significant" effect.
The results showed the drugs increased patients' scores on a 51-point depression scale by an average of only two points, although the study reported the drugs had a more significant effect on patients with severe depression.
The report also suggested "talking treatments" should replace drug treatments for clinically depressed people.
The drugs were prescribed more than 700,000 times in New Zealand last year at a cost of almost $28 million.
The medical director of the drug-buying agency Pharmac, Dr Peter Moodie, last night said the study included "some very interesting data" and would be discussed by the agency's clinical committees.
But Pharmac would not rush a decision on the findings.
"When we're looking at questions about the efficacy of drugs, we should use a measured approach," Dr Moodie said.
The drugs in the study are a modern type of anti-depressant called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI). The most widely used in New Zealand are Fluox (formerly known as Prozac) and Loxamine.
The study was led by the University of Hull in England and published yesterday.
Professor Irving Kirsch, from the University of Hull, said: "Given these results, there seems to be little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely clinically depressed patients."
But Dr Neil Matson, Bay of Plenty branch secretary for the NZ Medical Association and spokesperson for Western Bay GPs, today told Bay of Plenty Times the drugs do work.
"The question is, are they dramatically more effective than other time-consuming and costly support services such as counselling and psychiatric services?"
Dr Matson said anti-depressants were a quick way to help people cope with life's stresses and return to normal.
with NZ HERALD