Lesson 6 of 6 · When to get help, and what help looks like
What treatment involves, honestly
Nobody makes you do anything, and nobody is going to tell you to pray harder. The usual options are talking treatment, medication, or both, and here is the honest state of the evidence on the second and the third, including the parts the authors themselves flag.
And one thing from the tradition, for anybody who has been told that taking something is a lapse in trust. The Companions asked whether they should make use of medical treatment. They were told to make use of it.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Every disease has been created with its treatment. Set beside the answer about seeking treatment, it is why the options for medication can be laid in front of you as a medical decision rather than a religious problem to be settled first.
Narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment
Sahih al-Bukhari 5678graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
People asked plainly whether they should make use of medical treatment, and the answer came back as an instruction to use it. It is here for anybody who has been told that taking something is a lapse in trust.
Narrated Usamah ibn Sharik: I came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions were sitting as if they had birds on their heads. I saluted and sat down. The desert Arabs then came from here and there. They asked: Messenger of Allah, should we make use of medical treatment? He replied: Make use of medical treatment, for Allah has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease, namely old age
Sunan Abi Dawud 3855graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
What the research says
All 21 antidepressants studied beat placebo for adults in an acute episode. The authors raise the limits themselves: most trials ran only eight weeks and most were funded by the makers, so read it as real but modest.
All 21 antidepressants studied did better than placebo for adults in an acute episode. The authors raise the limits themselves: most of the trials ran for eight weeks, most were funded by the companies making the drugs, and the size of the benefit is modest rather than dramatic. Both halves of that are the honest answer to do antidepressants work.
Cipriani A, Furukawa TA, Salanti G, Chaimani A, Atkinson LZ, Ogawa Y, and others (2018). Comparative efficacy and acceptability of 21 antidepressant drugs for the acute treatment of adults with major depressive disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet, 391(10128), 1357 to 1366 doi
Talking treatment and medication together did better than either alone. That is worth knowing because people are often pushed to choose between them as though they were rival loyalties, and they are not.
Talking treatment and medication together did better than either on its own. That is worth knowing, because people are often pushed to choose between the two as though they were rival loyalties.
Cuijpers P, Noma H, Karyotaki E, Vinkers CH, Cipriani A, Furukawa TA (2020). A network meta-analysis of the effects of psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies and their combination in the treatment of adult depression. World Psychiatry, 19(1), 92 to 107 doi