"People prescribed antidepressants are always going to think they can't deal with problems themselves," says Joanna Moncrieff of University College London. "We're prescribing more antidepressants, but there's no evidence they make people less depressed. We're not stopping or reducing suicides, and nor are people increasingly getting back to work."

In the British Medical Journal (vol 331, p 155), Moncrieff and Irving Kirsch of the University of Plymouth, UK, reviewed studies looking at the efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac and Seroxat. They conclude that antidepressants are scarcely better than placebos.