Top 19 Quotes by Irving Kirsch

Perhaps 10 percent of patients who are prescribed antidepressants are really benefiting from the drugs' active ingredients.

Psychotherapy works, and some types of therapy have been shown to be much more effective than antidepressants over the long run.

To someone who is not currently on anti-depressants, I would suggest trying other treatments first - for example, psychotherapy.

The big bulk of the response to antidepressants is the placebo response.

One problem I have with drug companies is that they don't make all their data public.

The one thing we do know is that the chemical imbalance theory - the theory that people get depressed when they don't have enough serotonin in their brain - we know that that's wrong.

Anything that instills a sense of hope will at least temporarily help treat depression.

Patients who trust their doctors and have a psychological expectation of getting better could trigger a reaction in their body.

Perhaps anti-depressants should be best reserved for the very extreme cases and, more importantly, for those who do not respond to alternative forms of interventions.

I do a lot of research on the placebo effect, not just in depression but in irritable bowel syndrome, pain, arthritis of the knee, migraine, asthma.