The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth

by Irving Kirsch PhD

Overview

Do antidepressants work? Of course — everyone knows it. Like his colleagues, Irving Kirsch, a researcher and clinical psychologist, for years referred patients to psychiatrists to have their depression treated with drugs before deciding to investigate for himself just how effective the drugs actually were. Over the course of the past fifteen years, however, Kirsch's research — a thorough analysis of decades of Food and Drug Administration data — has demonstrated that what everyone knew about antidepressants was wrong. Instead of treating depression with drugs, we've been treating it with suggestion.

The Emperor's New Drugs makes an overwhelming case that what had seemed a cornerstone of psychiatric treatment is little more than a faulty consensus. But Kirsch does more than just criticize: he offers a path society can follow so that we stop popping pills and start proper treatment for depression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465022007
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., a native of New York City, is a professor of psychology at the University of Hull, United Kingdom, as well as professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut. He lives in Hull, England.

Table of Contents

Brand Names xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Preface 1

1 Listening to Prozac, but Hearing Placebo 7

2 The 'Dirty Little Secret' 23

3 Countering the Critics 54

4 The Myth of the Chemical Imbalance 81

5 The Placebo Effect and the Power of Belief 101

6 How Placebos Work 131

7 Beyond Antidepressants 149

Epilogue 177

Notes 182

Bibliography 194

Index 219

Editorial Reviews

New Scientist
“[Kirsch’s] case that the drugs’ benefits are due to placebo and enhanced placebo effect is fascinating and demands urgent research…Clearly, it's time for a big rethink of what constitutes mental illness and about how to treat it.”

Literary Review (UK)
“[B]rilliantly subversive… a fascinating and disturbing book.”

Kelly Lambert, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Randolph-Macon College; President, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society; Author of Lifting Depression
“Considering the crude and nonspecific therapies that have been historically available for depression, the thought of a pill acting as an effective agent against the tumultuous symptoms of this disease was appealing to everyone in the mental health industry. But, as Irving Kirsch points out in this provocative and informative treatise, The Emperor’s New Drugs, this dream ultimately turned out to be a fairy tale. There was no prince of healing to provide the promised relief for patients. Kudos to Dr. Kirsch for his impressive scientific investigative reporting described in this book, forcing our attention away from the fairy tale and toward the reality of more effective treatment strategies for depression.”

David D. Burns, author of

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
“A beautifully written, profoundly important book.”

Druin Burch, author of Taking the Medicine
“A terrific account of how optimism, greed and scientific incompetence have misled us about the nature of depression and the drugs we throw at it.”

Psychology Today
“[The Emperor’s New Drugs] absolutely dismantles the case for antidepressants as a pharmacologically effective treatment.”

Publishers Weekly
“Writing with a broad audience in mind, Kirsch expands on this important topic in a lively style with clear, cogent explanations of the science involved, and many examples of the differences between solid and flawed research. The result is a fascinating book with broad implications for science policy.”

St. Petersburg Times 
“Measured and laserlike in focus…The Emperor's New Drugs dismantles the case for antidepressants as a pharmacologically effective treatment.”

Charlotte Observer
“Kirsch…uses clear no-nonsense prose to marshal the extraordinary and convincing evidence needed to support his position.”

From the Publisher

The Emperor’s New Drugs absolutely dismantles the case for antidepressants as a pharmacologically effective treatment.”

Psychology Today

[Irving Kirsch’s] published articles—and now this book—are having a profound impact on the field, and deservedly so. His research is careful, his logic is easy to follow, and his writing is clear, all of which make The Emperor’s New Drugs an engaging—and important—read. Americans typically turn to the drug cabinet for help with depression, and Kirsch’s book makes a convincing argument that psychotherapy would be a better choice.”

American Journal of Psychology

[Kirsch’s] case that the drugs’ benefits are due to placebo and enhanced placebo effect is fascinating and demands urgent research…Clearly, it’s time for a big rethink of what constitutes mental illness and about how to treat it.”

New Scientist

We can only hope that Kirsch’s call will be heard.”

Scientific American Mind

Kirsch raises important questions about how drugs are tested and whether complicated human conditions such as depression can be reduced to chemical mechanics.”

SEED

[A] spare, remarkably engrossing book…Kirsch is a faithful proponent of the scientific method, and his voice therefore brings a welcome objectivity to a subject often swayed by anecdotes, emotions, or…self-interest.”

New York Review of Books

Brilliantly subversive…A fascinating and disturbing book.”

Literary Review (UK)

A beautifully written, profoundly important book.”

author of Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy David D. Burns

A terrific account of how optimism, greed, and scientific incompetence have misled us about the nature of depression and the drugs we throw at it.”

author of Taking the Medicine Druin Burch

Kirsch…uses clear no-nonsense prose to marshal the extraordinary and convincing evidence needed to support his position.”

Charlotte Observer

Considering the crude and nonspecific therapies that have been historically available for depression, the thought of a pill acting as an effective agent against the tumultuous symptoms of this disease was appealing to everyone in the mental health industry. But, as Irving Kirsch points out in this provocative and informative treatise, The Emperor’s New Drugs, this dream ultimately turned out to be a fairy tale. There was no prince of healing to provide the promised relief for patients. Kudos to Dr. Kirsch for his impressive scientific investigative reporting described in this book, forcing our attention away from the fairy tale and toward the reality of more effective treatment strategies for depression.”

Kelly Lambert

In measured prose, Kirsch leads the reader through the labyrinth of more than twenty years of trials, studies, and meta-analyses and shows that these pills are no better than placebos.”

Times Literary Supplement (London)

[A] damning exposé of pharmaceutical industry greed…An overdue wake-up call to the psychological professions to begin treating depression with more compassionate methods than expensive pill-popping.”

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