The SSRI Debate Flares Again

All these policies actually sound good, SSRIs should not be first-line, as there is extremely limited evidence of meaningful effectiveness for anti-depressants generally.

Mmeta-analytic assessments of effect sizes show the observed effects are usually below what is required to count as a minimal clinically important difference, and antidepressants only target generally the "positive" symptoms of depression (sadness, anxiety) while doing little for the "negative" ones (anhedonia, lack of meaning, lack of motivation). They also have some serious side-effects, like emotional blunting and severe sexual dysfunction, the latter of which can persist for months even after stopping to take the drugs.

Even the usual excuses people make for these drugs ("Sure, the average effect is small, but they really help some people" and "Eventually the doctor finds the right one for you") are generally not supported by actual studies addressing these claims either.

There absolutely should be more monitoring and less careless prescribing of SSRIs and anti-depressants generally.