Last week a debate article to be published in the BMJ wherein two experts Peter Gøtzsche, professor and director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, Denmark and Allan H Young, a professor of mood disorders at King’s College London argued against and in favour of psychiatric drugs. Alzheimer’s Society has an opinion of its own!
Gøtzsche is of the opinion that benefits of antidepressants is minimal and they should only be recommended in acute situations. Advocating the need for new guidelines that incorporate this change, Gøtzsche suggests that withdrawal clinics should be used as a medium to help patients get off these medications.
Gøtzsche argues that more than half a million people aged above 65 years die from the use of psychiatric drugs annually in the Western world and the benefits would need to be “colossal” to justify these “immensely harmful” treatments.
Young on the other hand believes that these drugs are indeed beneficial and efficacious as treatments for other common, complex conditions.
These drugs are needed, Young insists, to reduce the long term harms of psychiatric conditions, which are the fifth leading cause of disability worldwide. Most patients suffer from co-existing health conditions, a primary cause of death among this group.
Careful evaluation of these drugs is undertaken before and after regulatory approval, Young explains, and that post surveillance after a drug is licensed can include safety of a medication in the general population, which unlike study populations, includes people with varied medical conditions.
Alzheimer’s Society begs to differ on this and has a viewpoint of its own. According to the organization, drugs such as Aricept have shown to provide real benefits for many people living with dementia. Though the society advocates the benefits of such drugs it also accepts that use of antipsychotic drugs is an outdated way to treat symptoms of dementia like aggression as they can leave patients sedated and could end up damaging their quality of life and may also cause death.
Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer’s Society says: “We welcome a debate on drugs, but we need to ensure that those drugs working well for people with dementia remain available to all who so desperately need them.”
