What is the modern consensus in Psychiatry regarding the efficacy of anti-depressants vs placebo? | AskScience Blog

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Monday, May 2, 2016

What is the modern consensus in Psychiatry regarding the efficacy of anti-depressants vs placebo?

What is the modern consensus in Psychiatry regarding the efficacy of anti-depressants vs placebo?


What is the modern consensus in Psychiatry regarding the efficacy of anti-depressants vs placebo?

Posted: 01 May 2016 09:24 AM PDT

I didn't even know until recently that for at least a decade there has been something of a controversy over whether the effects of anti-depressant medications on depression can be chalked up entirely to placebo or not, sparked mainly by work by Irving Kirsch who seems to be on a bit of a crusade against anti-depressants. I had taken it for granted until now that obviously they must have some active effect.

I've tried to make sense of the controversy by reading what I can of Kirsch and the responses but a lot of it goes over my head. It seems like it's generally acknowledged that anti-depressants usually have a very modest effect except in extreme cases where they can have a serious effect? It's hard for me to find much actual sources on this to read however which are not the standard stuff about the evils of big pharma trying to poison our brains.

submitted by /u/Akton
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Can modern chemistry produce gold?

Posted: 02 May 2016 05:02 AM PDT

reading about alchemy and got me wondered.

We can produce diamonds, but can we produce gold?

submitted by /u/koreankiwitea
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In terms of "brain health", does reading, chess, and other "smart" activities actually do anything of benefit to the brain? Likewise, wouldn't cardio be beneficial to overall health for the brain?

Posted: 01 May 2016 06:48 AM PDT

As I understand, neurons in the brain die with age, and they don't come back (or if they do, in a limited way). As a kid, I always heard that playing video games/watching TV would "melt" my brain (which doesn't seem right). Meanwhile, activities such as chess, or card games, or reading are suppose to be "good" for the brain. How exactly are some activities good for the brain, and what is the mechanic within in the brain that makes these tasks helpful to the brain?

Likewise, in terms of overall brain health, wouldn't cardiovascular exercises help your brain? As I understand, parts of the brain receive blood from veins (capillaries?), and this provides oxygen to brain cells, which is important to their overall health. Do I have this right, and if so, do we know how cardiovascular exercises overall brain health?

Thanks!

submitted by /u/Reflektor18
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Einstein explained gravity as a distortion of space-time due to mass. Where does the graviton fit in?

Posted: 01 May 2016 07:29 AM PDT

A particle and a distortion of space-time continuum seem to be two opposing explanations for gravity.

submitted by /u/paleRedSkin
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If I were to analyse the DNA of a newborn baby, and then wait 80 years before analysing that person's DNA once more, how genetically dissimilar might I expect the two samples to be?

Posted: 01 May 2016 06:39 AM PDT

Why do adults need hormones like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, but children can live with low levels of them all the way until puberty?

Posted: 01 May 2016 08:26 PM PDT

How does a boomerang work?

Posted: 02 May 2016 04:34 AM PDT

Do different languages compel native speakers to think in different ways?

Posted: 01 May 2016 07:50 PM PDT

Some linguists, such as Noam Chomsky, believe language is the basis of cognition. If language is the tool kit by which we think, is it possible that differences between languages give rise to differences in thought in native speakers? In other words, is it poosible that a Bantu speakers might have a better grasp on some concepts than English speakers or vice versa due to particular aspects of their respective languages?

submitted by /u/ienjoyapples
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Why do fans always always go off-high-medium-low and not off-low-medium-high?

Posted: 01 May 2016 01:07 PM PDT

I always hate that I can't tell if a fan is off or not and always end up pulling the cord like 20 times over and over again trying to figure out if it's off or not. Wouldn't it make the most sense to have it go from the loudest and most obvious setting (high) to the off position? Is there something with the design of fans that prevents this?

submitted by /u/StankCheez
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What does it mean to understand something or not understand it? What's going on in the brain and conscientiousness that allows this to happen?

Posted: 01 May 2016 07:55 PM PDT

When I look at a math problem and don't understand it, why don't i understand it?

When I look at a science problem i generally can understand it.

What goes on in the brain/inner thoughts that allow you to hit the wall or jump over it mentally?

submitted by /u/PuckTheBruins
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How does a bat construct its airfoil and is a fused clavicle beneficial for flying?

Posted: 01 May 2016 09:02 PM PDT

What accounts for the ability of slow cooker liners to not melt or stretch extensively under such heat?

Posted: 01 May 2016 07:12 PM PDT

New studies link anticholinergic drugs to increased risk of brain damage in elderly people... Is there evidence of similar effects in younger people? Is there any reason why these drugs would be fundamentally safer for non-elderly people?

Posted: 01 May 2016 07:33 AM PDT

How does a cloaca filter excretion waste and sexual fluids in Reptiles/Amphibians/Birds?

Posted: 01 May 2016 09:01 PM PDT

How does this little plastic piece make patterns when you shine a laser through it? Shouldn't the laser just be diffused?

Posted: 01 May 2016 12:36 PM PDT

What makes the Fibonacci Sequence so "special"? Couldn't you find similar patterns with any arbitrary set of operations between numbers?

Posted: 01 May 2016 04:40 PM PDT

I was watching this Numberphile video and it got me thinking. The patterns he talks about don't really seem all that surprising to me. If you started performing the same operations over and over again in a set manner with numbers, you're bound to start seeing patterns. What makes this particular set of operations (adding the previous two to get the next) so special?

submitted by /u/sts816
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How are we able to understand misspelled words?

Posted: 01 May 2016 06:28 PM PDT

How and why are we able to see past typos and understand what they originally mean, instead of pausing and asking ourselves what this new word is? For example if you see "spellig", you'll most likely think the original word was supposed to be "spelling", especially if it were in the context of a sentence. If we can differentiate between visual shapes (we know a square is a square, and not a triangle), then what is different in this case? And finally, to what extent would we no longer be able to recognize a typo from the intended word?

submitted by /u/Thegreatmochi
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If a baby were to be placed near the edge of a cliff, would it know not to fall off?

Posted: 01 May 2016 09:48 AM PDT

If so, how would it know? If not, when does this skill develop and how does it work?

I'm assuming this experiment hasn't been conducted before, and for good reason.

submitted by /u/preetcolors
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Why is it more difficult to move my fingers when they're cold?

Posted: 01 May 2016 03:40 PM PDT

For example: after jogging in the rain or walking around without gloves in winter?

My fingers are unable to grip as hard as they normally can and my motor skills aren't as precise. (I've noticed this while gaming, like this guy.)

submitted by /u/VladymyrPutin
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In the movies, when someone is shot directly in the head, they die instantaneously. How true is that? Also, why is it that we die so quickly from something entering our brain?

Posted: 01 May 2016 06:12 AM PDT

How well would a bird fly in zero-g?

Posted: 01 May 2016 06:39 PM PDT

How well would a bird fly in zero-g? Would smaller birds fare better than larger birds? Would hummingbirds be better or worse than other birds? Has this been done before?

submitted by /u/memercopter
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If we place a perfect sphere on a flat surface, how much of the sphere touches the surface?

Posted: 01 May 2016 04:13 PM PDT

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