Canadian Researchers Debunk Popular Antidepressant

In 2001, a study was published on the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) Paxil (paroxtine). The study was funded by the pharmaceutical company that made the drug, GlaxoSmithKline. It concluded that Paxil was safe and effective for the treatment of depression in adolescents (J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2001;40:762-72). Now the data from that study has been reanalyzed by an unbiased group of researchers from Toronto. They disagree. . . .

This study was important because, since its publication, it has played a significant role in the case for using SSRIs to treat teenage depression. The original paper compared the SSRI Paxil to the older antidepressant imipramine and placebo. Though it admitted that neither parents nor the teenagers in the study rated either drug as significantly superior to the placebo, it still concluded that Paxil, but not imipramine, was significantly better than placebo and that it is safe and effective for treating major depression in adolescents.

However, when the unbiased researchers reexamined the data, they found that Paxil was neither statistically nor clinically superior to the placebo for any of the studied outcomes. What’s worse is that it found not only that the original conclusion about efficacy was wrong, so was the original conclusion about safety. The increased risk of harm from taking Paxil was clinically significant, including thoughts of suicide and other serious side effects.

The herb St. Johns wort has been shown to be safer and more effective than Paxil (BMJ 2005;330:503). For more information on treating depression naturally, see our book, The Family Naturopathic Encyclopedia.

BMJ 2015;351:h4320

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