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Are some antidepressants better than others?

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An analysis of 12 different second-generation antidepressants rated sertraline and escitalopram as having the most favorable balance between benefit and harm for the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults. A second look at the methods and results from the study reveals that such a positive conclusion might not be warranted.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Kathleen N. Lohr, at the Research Triangle Institute International, and Bradley N. Gaynes, at the Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, for valuable comments on an early draft of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, Danube University, Krems, Austria

    Gerald Gartlehner

  2. Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Richard A. Hansen

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  1. Gerald Gartlehner
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  2. Richard A. Hansen
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Correspondence to Gerald Gartlehner.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Gartlehner, G., Hansen, R. Are some antidepressants better than others?. Nat Rev Neurol 5, 239–240 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2009.51

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