Effectiveness of antidepressantsIn issue 13 of Taking Side, the controversial question of the effectiveness of antidepressants is analyzed. Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer argues in this issue that antidepressant medications “can transform depressed patients into happy people with almost no side effects” (p. 212). On the contrary, psychology professors Seymour Fisher and Roger P. Greenburg “argue that studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of antidepressants are seriously flawed” (p. 212). Kramer's agreement with the above statement is due primarily to the tests he performed with his patient Tess and to antidepressants. However, Fisher and Greenberg disagree with this assertion, primarily due to the biases of drug studies. Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer used the antidepressant Prozac with one of his patients, Tess. In doing so, Kramer learned a lot about Prozac and its effects on people. This experience also led him to ask many other questions about the drug. Tess was a patient from a violent childhood and therefore a...