Comments on: HS responds to BP Squared

By: CL Psy

CL Psy — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:53:33 +0000

“I submit that the efficacy and safety of current psychotropics versus those of 50 years ago answers that. When one ignores the economics (new meds are much much more expensive) current antidepressants and antipsychotics are clearly better.”

Oh boy, this type of comment gets thrown around all the time. The only problem is that evidence absolutely fails to support it. There is no difference, in terms of effectiveness, and little difference, in terms of safety, between SSRIs and older antidepressants. In addition, as studies such as CATIE and CUtLASS have found, there is little difference between old and new antipsychotic meds in terms of effectiveness. The newer antipsychotics just offer different side effects — they’re not necessarily any safer than older meds. Pardon the self-promotion, but look around my site (http://clinpsyc.blogspot.com) and I think you’ll get a better sense for the evidence base.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:30:57 +0000

Without getting into it further, let’s just say that I’m quite sure the checks wouldn’t have been offered again after I told them the things I was uncomfortable with.

Of course Seroquel is incredibly effective; I, for one, can’t live without it. But it’s certainly important to ask tough questions about its efficacy, indications, side effects and marketing, no?

By: HS

HS — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:27:25 +0000

I think you would have been surprised to find that the AZ checks (if you took them) would have cleared just as quickly even if you had said some negative things about their chemicals.The question tends to be whether a particular drug is ultimately a positive contribution to the care of the mentally ill. In the case of the vast majority of medications ( and in the case of your blog) the answer is yes.