Study Finds 2/3 of Patients on Antidepressants Are Not Depressed

America is well-known for being a highly medicated society. Antidepressants in particular are a big moneymaker for the pharmaceutical industry, since at least 1 in 10 Americans are on these pills. But when you compare our level of pharmaceutical consumption to that of other countries, it’s obvious that our doctors are prescribing them to people who are not actually depressed.

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry came to the same conclusion. The researchers conducted multiple interviews with antidepressant users in the Baltimore area. They found that 69% of them never had a depression disorder. They also considered other conditions that are commonly treated with antidepressants, such as OCD, panic disorder, social phobia, and anxiety disorder. 38% of the patients never met the criteria for those ailments.

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