Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest

Hengartner, Michael P.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4

Publication type:	Book
Type of review:	Editorial review
Title:	Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest
Authors:	Hengartner, Michael P.
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4
Extent:	VII, 354
Issue Date:	Dec-2021
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	London
ISBN:	978-3-030-82586-7 978-3-030-82587-4
Language:	English
Subjects:	Antidepressant; Evidence-based medicine; Medical-industrial complex; Psychopharmacology; Method bias; Depression; Medication for depression; Pharmaceutical industry; Long-term harms of antidepressants
Subject (DDC):	615: Pharmacology and therapeutics 616.8: Neurology, diseases of nervous system
Abstract:	This book addresses the over-prescribing of antidepressants in people with mostly mild and subthreshold depression. It outlines the steep increase in antidepressant prescription and critically examines the current scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of antidepressants in depression. The book is not only concerned with the conflicting views as to whether antidepressants are useful or ineffective in various forms of depression, but also aims at detailing how flaws in the conduct and reporting of antidepressant trials have led to an overestimation of benefits and underestimation of harms. The transformation of the diagnostic concept of depression from a rare but serious disorder to an over-inclusive, highly prevalent but predominantly mild and self-limiting disorder is central to the books argument. It maintains that biological reductionism in psychiatry and pharmaceutical marketing reframed depression as a brain disorder, corroborating the overemphasis on drug treatment in both research and practice. Finally, the author goes on to explore how pharmaceutical companies have distorted the scientific literature on the efficacy and safety of antidepressants and how patient advocacy groups, leading academics, and medical organisations with pervasive financial ties to the industry helped to promote systematically biased benefit-harm evaluations, affecting public attitudes towards antidepressants as well as medical education, training, and practice.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/23859
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Applied Psychology
Organisational Unit:	Psychological Institute (PI)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Angewandte Psychologie

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Hengartner, M. P. (2021). Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4

Hengartner, M.P. (2021) Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4.

M. P. Hengartner, Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4.

HENGARTNER, Michael P., 2021. Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription : overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-82586-7

Hengartner, Michael P. 2021. Evidence-Biased Antidepressant Prescription : Overmedicalisation, Flawed Research, and Conflicts of Interest. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4.

Hengartner, Michael P. Evidence-Biased Antidepressant Prescription : Overmedicalisation, Flawed Research, and Conflicts of Interest. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82587-4.