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Irving Kirsch: The Emperor's New Drugs

Mizzou Visual Productions

3K subscribers • 1 video on Rounds

YouTube
  • Recommended by 2 people, in Hacker News, across 2 different months.
  • Presented by Irving Kirsch, as the video describes them
  • May be out of date. Uploaded 12 years ago, in an area where guidance changes.
  • Debated among experts. Its central claim is contested, so look for the other side.

Assumes interest and some biology. Education, not medical advice.

12K views12 years ago2 recommendations

Mental healthMedicines and supplementsDepression and anxietyHow drugs work

Dr. Irving Kirsch presents evidence challenging the chemical imbalance theory of depression and highlighting the power of the placebo effect.

University of Missouri Department of Psychological Sciences Distinguished Lecture Series, 2013-2014 March 13, 2014

Why it's here

2 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as an eye-opening lecture on the placebo effect and the efficacy of antidepressant medications.

leekyle333in Hacker News • Recommends

On “FDA approves new drug to treat influenza”

If you're ever board and you want to watch something on placebos I highly recommend watching this lecture by Dr. Irving Kirsch. Placebos are pretty nuts and probably really undervalued. link to this video
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q3PG23XiQKpZqpUin Hacker News • Recommends

On “The Troubled History of Psychiatry”

Since here we are talking about placebo, I wonder if it has a meaning to say "placebo" when speaking about psychotherapy, since there is no "substance". Of course there is going to be a placebo effect as long as people think it's going to work. I think the point is that since in mild and moderate depression we have to choose between the placebo of a drug and the placebo of psychoterapy, let's choose the one with less side effects. On the topic of placebo, I found Irving Kirsch's talk about anti-depressants vs placebo in depression 1 very interesting. 1 link to this video
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lingbenin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Treat Depression with the Fisher Wallace Stimulator?”

> Stimulates the Brain to Produce Serotonin except that the serotonin model of depression has been disproven without a shadow of a doubt: link to this video the device may have some effect as placebo but if that's what you're going for, there are many other cheaper alternatives
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shkkmoin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Treat Depression with the Fisher Wallace Stimulator?”

…he says: "Were there any truth in the serotonin model of depression, and I don't know any responsible researcher in the area who still contends there is. (It's only in marketing where you still see that talked about) Where there any truth to that, SSRE's should not help people recover from depression, it ought to make them depressed" Link to time: link to this video If that is correct, I think it might be valid to claim that " that the serotonin model of depression has been disproven" although I think "beyond a shadow of a doubt" seems hyperbolic. It might be also be argue that "the serotonin model of treating depression" might be clearer.…
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