The gist is that you are wrong. You are factually wrong about the difference between various types of medical practice. You are factually wrong about how psychological drugs are tested as compared to other drugs. You are wrong about your grand theory, too.
But don’t worry about me. I am not in pain. Prozac gave me enough emotional stability to solve my most pressing problems, and I haven’t needed it in a couple of years.
Most of your links are completely irrelevant to the effectiveness of SSRI’s. As others have pointed out many SSRI’s and SNRI’s are now available in generic version. Generic Venlafaxine (Effexor) is $10 for a box of 30 pills from online pharmacies. Affordable even for someone with no medical insurance.
Like I said, if you or anyone you know tried taking an SSRI and it stops working, go back and talk to your doc, there are plenty of other good options. Help exists.
You say I insulted the name of good Drs everywhere and it offends you but you can say this to me? Way to go. Keep fighting that ignorance. You got a long war.
Drad Dog, why is that your claims seem to mirror almost exactly the arguments on this page, including you calling Psychiatrists Psychopaths and other names:
SSRI’s / SNRI’s save lives, they do undoubtably work.
That’s awesome, and very smart/healthy (well… corn syrup but ok). I think the main issue here is that people don’t understand placebo. They think it is a “Bad thing” or that it means they “Got tricked”. Just guessing at the underlying motivations here. To me the opposite seems the most rational. If we can increase the chemical effectiveness by adding a placebo effect, we should do it. If we can even get the effect without any (dangerous) chemicals that’s even better. That’s basically how homeopathy works, no active real ingredient, but really, really potent placebo thanks to the whole marketing.
It was my husband’s idea. It was quite effective – he always felt better for a while after we gave him a spoon full, and I never worried about dangerous side effects. Yeah, corn syrup is demonized and all that (as is food coloring for that matter) but the quantities were very small, and less than most of us get in our normal diet.
My doctor (not the current one, but one who retired) once recommended a remedy for me and I said, “don’t the studies show that doesn’t work any better than a placebo?” and she replied, “well, I’ve had good luck with it, and hey, don’t knock the placebo effect. Sometimes a good placebo is helpful.”
I didn’t try it, because I didn’t want to end up feeling like I had to keep buying the stuff. 
But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it had helped.
Are you actually interested? Will anything I say change your opinion? I doubt it, but I’ll try in good faith anyway.
I work in clinical research for a very large and very well known pharmaceutical company. I am directly involved in the testing and reporting of study results.
We (that is, the employees of the company in general) are not permitted to give physicians anything. We can’t even give them a pen or buy them a cup of coffee. Even the things we are allowed to say to them - verbally or in print - are subject to extremely stringent internal and external regulations, and violating them comes with massive penalties for the individual and the company. In more than a decade in the industry, I can honestly say I’ve never seen a single instance of a Doctor being offered financial inducement to prescribe a particular drug.
Your understanding is entirely false.
Every trial of every drug in human subjects is subject to intense monitoring by regulatory authorities (in the US, that’s the FDA) throughout the trial. Every single step is documented, verified, and subject to audit at any time. The FDA knows every single trial that my company has underway (indeed, we would not be permitted to even administer an unapproved product to a human being without advance clearance from FDA). We provide regular updates while the trial is in progress and a detailed clinical study report when it closes (regardless of the outcome). We also report trial results publicly (via press releases and such). No trial is ever buried; the results of every study conducted in the last two decades are yours to see, if you want them.
Now, negative outcomes are not always published, which is a different thing. Understand that drug companies have no control over what the medical journals want to publish; if a journal doesn’t want to publish an article on a failed trial - and why would they, unless it was high profile or important in some way, there are hundreds of failed trials ever year - that’s their call.
You need a new doctor. I have never had any experiences like the ones you’re describing, and I’ve been going to the doctor for 40 years.
So the Journals are the ones that leave out bad outcomes from the record? The poor drug companies have nothing to do with it?
Of course I want to know what you do. Your statement doesn’t seem strong to me though. See the links above from CCHRINT, and Alternet in particular. If you can’t answer those concerns I have to ask why.
There is plenty of $$ flowing from Drug companies to Drs. These companies also have had a huge influence on the DMS, which means, in effect, the whole psychiatric industry, and anyone who is prescribed psych meds. It sounds like you are you are obfuscating.
I got my opinions honestly by experience, reading, and communicating online. I searched that out and found it just before I posted it.
I’m glad they work for you, but nobody knows exactly why and your outcomes are not universal.
You realize I support what works for individuals?
Thats right but still many people get good outcomes. Not every doctor is corrupt.
Many people. Some people. Without a cite, they are the same thing.
Well fuckit. “my friend” is me. SNRI specifically, Effexor saved my life. I wouldn’t be here posting without it, so excuse me if I get a bit dramatic. SSRI / SNRI work and I am the living proof of that.
The only conclusion we can draw from your anecdote is that Effexor worked for you. There is a big difference between “Effexor works” and “Effexor works for me”.
We can also draw the conclusion that maybe other people should try various anti-depressants before they give-up . I would rather be alive than dead.
Or try solving the issue without drugs.
No, not when such a conclusion relies solely on your anecdote we can’t. It is meaningless when applied to any larger population.
There is corruption endemic in the system the Dr is working and prescribing for you in. Your Dr may be personable and trustworthy but it is very unlikely he is another Erin Brokovich, or Karen Silkwood.
Noone wants to argue that you aren’t being helped you know.
What is the definition of a “failed trial”?
Is it when it was mucked up or interfered with in some way, like people dropping out, contamination etc.
or is it when the drug failed to work as prescribed?
Ah, you’re one of those who believe that depression and anxiety can be solved by “just getting over it.”
Ah. You’re one of those who creates straw men and decides what other people think… :smack: (I wish there was a pill for THAT)
Nobody (that I know on) denies that changing your body/brain chemistry will also change your mind/consciousness. But only fools think that it is the only way to do it. My opinions is that drugs are a great way to help the therapeutic process, assuming it is the right drugs. SSRI does not seem to be the right drug since there are others that are more effective and have fewer downsides. I also think it is quite stupid to not combine it with other therapies. If you want to increase your physical health it is better to both make your diet more healthy and combine it with exercise. The idea to cover up a mental issue with drugs and then leave it untreated for the rest of your life seems unhealthy, lazy and financially irresponsible.