Cherry picking the data
Clinical depression is a serious illness that shouldn't be taken lightly—least of all by the drug companies pushing their wares.
But it appears that when it comes to pushing paper—in the form of published studies—they've been pushing a doctored version of the results. A group of researchers was interested in comparing the published results for multiple antidepressant drugs from the drug companies with the FDA's reviews of the same.
This investigative group reviewed trial results that included 12,564 patients and 12 commonly prescribed antidepressants.
What they found showed just how shady the tactics of can be when it comes to selling prescription drugs.
Their published studies tend to portray one big, rosy picture (compliments of their products, of course) showing 94 percent of outcomes to be positive. It sounds like the land of all things good. But the real picture was revealed when the researchers compared this version of reality with the FDA's numbers. And the FDA reviews only show positive results in about 51 percent of those same studies.
Here's where it gets murky: Except for one—seemingly token—negative study, it appears that only positive studies got published. And 33 out of 36 studies that did not have positive results were either published as positive anyway—or just not published at all.
If you're suffering from depression, this means that you and your doctor are trying to make a treatment decision in the dark. With access only to inaccurate information, (what I like to call "lies"), treating depression becomes a game of Russian roulette. Your doctor relies on the information from these studies to make the best decision for you, in hopes of providing you a true positive outcome.
That's a challenging task if he isn't given all of the facts—much less the truth.
If you are currently taking an antidepressant, the best thing for you to do is monitor your reaction to your prescription. I'd recommend keeping a daily log. Record your symptoms or lack of, as well as any unusual thoughts or actual improvements.
And remember that your doctor is your partner in health. No matter what your health problem is, you'll need to work together. If something's not working, tell him. Your doctor can guide you, provided he is given the correct information to do so. And according to the findings in this particular report, the only truth you can rely on is what you are personally experiencing and report to your doctor, so by all means speak up.
