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Doctors Not Too Quick to Prescribe Antidepressants: Depression Still Undertreated January 18, 1999: The myth is that since the arrival of the Prozac family of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs a decade ago, doctors have been overprescribing medications to treat depression. Not so, according to a new study by Benjamin G. Druss, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at Yale University. They surveyed 312 people diagnosed with major depression, and discovered that only 6.4 percent took an antidepressant medication. Another 3.5 percent took an alternative medication, for example, the herbal antidepressant, St. John's wort, and 1 percent took both. But the survey suggests that some 89 percent of people with major depression remain unmedicated. (However, they may participate in psychotherapy. The study measured only medication use.) Dr. Druss concluded that undertreatment of depression in the U.S. is still a major problem, and that fears of overly liberal use of antidepressants are unfounded. Source: Yale University http://www.depression.com/topstories/news_990118.htm janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm [log in to unmask]