When an active placebo is used, most clinical trials do not show a significant benefit for antidepressants.

Although higher doses of antidepressants can produce more side effects,11 they do not produce greater reductions in depression.

Perhaps anti-depressants should be best reserved for the very extreme cases and, more importantly, for those who do not respond to alternative forms of interventions.

There seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients.

One problem I have with drug companies is that they don't make all their data public.

If doctors just spent more time with their patients so they felt more reassured, that might help.

Antidepressants can have troubling side effects and are addictive for some people.

If you're taking an antidepressant, it's working, and you're not experiencing side effects, go on taking it. But if it's not working, or not working well enough, or if you have side effects you don't like, talk to your doctor about an alternative approach.

To someone who is not currently on anti-depressants, I would suggest trying other treatments first - for example, psychotherapy.

Perhaps 10 percent of patients who are prescribed antidepressants are really benefiting from the drugs' active ingredients.