ReviewBMJ evidence-based medicine2020
Should antidepressants be used for major depressive disorder?
Review in BMJ evidence-based medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- The risks of adverse events with mirtazapine for adults with major depressive disorder: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The risks of adverse events with venlafaxine for adults with major depressive disorder: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials with meta-analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Beneficial and harmful effects of tricyclic antidepressants for adults with major depressive disorder: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.BMJ mental health · 2024Pooled it
- Comparative effectiveness of exercise, antidepressants and their combination in treating non-severe depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.British journal of sports medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effect of combination therapy of methylfolate with antidepressants in patients with depressive disorder.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Trial
- Orbitofrontal cortex-hippocampus potentiation mediates relief for depression: A randomized double-blind trial and TMS-EEG study.Cell reports. Medicine · 2023Trial
- The novel uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist esmethadone (REL-1017) has no meaningful abuse potential in recreational drug users.Translational psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Pursuing personalized medicine for depression by targeting the lateral or medial prefrontal cortex with Deep TMS.JCI insight · 2023Trial
- Novel approaches in depression treatment: from rapid-acting antidepressants to personalized interventions.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- The Association Between Structural and Social Determinants of Health and Mood Disorder Symptoms Among Black Adults in the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Clinical evaluation of adjunctive magnesium therapy in patients receiving antidepressants for depression-open label, nonrandomized clinical trial.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Public thresholds for antidepressant effectiveness and adverse drug reaction rates: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Are People Worse Off in a Mental Health Treatment Paradigm Where Medication Is Deemphasised? A Naturalistic Noninferiority Trial of an Initiative to Improve Patient Choice.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2026Article
- Suboptimal antidepressant use among inpatients and outpatients with symptoms of depression: a cross-sectional analysis of the POKAL core data set.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Antidepressant effect of transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) targeting neuropsychiatric disorders: a retrospective analysis.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- The evolution of SSRI research: trajectories of knowledge domains across four decades.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- The assessment of suicidality in psychiatric trials: a protocol for a scoping review.Systematic reviews · 2025Article
- A rare variant inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Patterns and Duration of Antidepressant Use in Australian Women: Findings From the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.Asia-Pacific journal of public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMajor depressive disorder is estimated by the WHO to affect more than 300 million people globally, making depression the leading cause of disability worldwide. Antidepressants are commonly used to treat depression.
objectiveThe study aimed to provide an update on the evidence on the effects of antidepressants compared with placebo. Should antidepressants be used for adults with major depressive disorder? STUDY SELECTION: We searched the Cochrane Library, BMJ Best Practice and PubMed up to June 2019 with the search terms 'depression' and 'antidepressants' targeting reviews published in English since 1990.
findingsSeveral reviews have assessed the effects of antidepressants compared with placebo for depression. Generally, all the previous reviews show that antidepressants seem to have statistically significant effects on depressive symptoms, but the size of the effect has questionable importance to most patients. Antidepressants seem to have minimal beneficial effects on depressive symptoms and increase the risk of both serious and non-serious adverse events.
conclusionsThe benefits of antidepressants seem to be minimal and possibly without any importance to the average patient with major depressive disorder. Antidepressants should not be used for adults with major depressive disorder before valid evidence has shown that the potential beneficial effects outweigh the harmful effects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.