New York: Antidepressants do not work, unless the patient is suffering from severe depression that needs allopathic help.

Antidepressants like Prozac, prescribed for clinical depression, do not help the majority of morose people, according to a study published in PloS Medicine.

Irving Kirsch of the University of Hull and his colleagues investigated the problem, looking at whether a patient's response to antidepressant therapy depends on how badly depressed he or she is.

Kirsch and colleagues used the "meta-analysis" procedure and gathered all the information on clinical benefits from all the trials submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for four drugs including Prozac, Effexor, Serzone and Seroxat.

The researchers concluded that an antidepressant and a placebo have the same effect on a mildly depressed individual.

Kirsch, summarising the paper, said, "Although patients get better when they take antidepressants, they also get better when they take a placebo. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments."