Not only are poor, unemployed, less will-educated and non-white people more likely to become depressed, but they are also least likely to benefit from treatment by either antidepressants or psychotherapy. That is why combating depression requires more than merely providing effective treatment for those who are already suffering from it. We also need the change the social conditions - such a racism, unemployment, poverty, unaffordable housing, and lack of adequate education - that put people at increased risk of becoming depressed. Irving Kirsch
About This Quote

If the people who are the most likely to be depressed are less likely to benefit from treatment, then it is not just a question of how to treat depression, but a question of who is going to be treated. If you have ever been diagnosed with depression, you might have wondered what exactly it is that makes some people so much more likely to benefit from treatment than others. Why don’t they just get better? There is a lot of research on this subject. In fact, there are some studies that suggest that people who have multiple stresses in their lives may be at greater risk for becoming depressed.

In other words, people who already have a lot of problems may not respond as well as others do to treatment for depression. That said, there is little evidence that this alone accounts for the differences in treatment rates observed in the social science literature.

Source: The Emperors New Drugs: Exploding The Antidepressant Myth

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More Quotes By Irving Kirsch
  1. Not only are poor, unemployed, less will-educated and non-white people more likely to become depressed, but they are also least likely to benefit from treatment by either antidepressants or psychotherapy. That is why combating depression requires more than merely providing effective treatment for those who...
  2. Physicians do not systematically prescribe placebos to their patients. Hence they have no way of comparing the effects of the drugs they prescribe to placebos. When they prescribe a treatment and it works, their natural tendency is to attribute the cure to the treatment. But...
  3. Many of the benefits of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) can be obtained without going into therapy. There are a number of self-help books, CDs and computer programs that have been used to treat depression and some of these have been tested in clinical trials with...
  4. Like antidepressants, a substantial part of the benefit of psychotherapy depends on a placebo effect, or as Moerman calls it, the meaning response. At least part of the improvement that is produced by these treatments is due to the relationship between the therapist and the...
  5. Depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is not cured by medication. Depression may not even be an illness at all. Often, it can be a normal reaction to abnormal situations. Poverty, unemployment, and the loss of loved ones...
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