Antidepressants are highly effective and should be prescribed to millions more people with mental health problems, researchers declared last night.
After the largest-ever study, the Oxford University-led team said they had wanted to ‘give the final answer’ to the controversy of whether or not the pills effectively treat depression.
Their study, which examined 120,000 people in more than 500 trials across three decades, concluded emphatically that antidepressants do work.
And although prescription rates have soared in recent years – with 10 per cent of British adults now on antidepressants – the researchers warned that only one in six people was receiving effective treatment for depression, suggesting that millions more should be given the pills.
They hope their findings will encourage GPs to prescribe the drugs for people with the more severe forms of the illness.
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5419967/Millions-taking-antidepressants.html