Study: Antidepressants Do Little for Mild Cases

Crying Man sculpture - depressionby Gwen Belton, CBS4.com
Each year millions of prescriptions for antidepressants are written in the U.S. for people with mild to severe forms of depression. Now a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association says fake pills or placebos given to patients with mild depression worked just as well as antidepressants.

Dr. Eva Ritvo, Vice Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami, told CBS4’s Gwen Belton,

“The good news is placebos work. And what does placebo mean? It means that a doctor gives you something and tells us it’s going to work.”

Dr. Ritvo also says time plays a big factor in beating the blues if you suffer from mild depression.