The Danish psychiatrists find points in Peter's article "irrelevant, .... incorrect and misleading" but then do not go on to say what these points are. Instead they attack his comment that the "citizens [of Denmark] would be far better off if we removed all the psychotropic drugs from the market". It's clear from Peter's article that he is aware of discontinuation problems with psychotropic medication - in fact he criticises the myths that "It’s no problem to stop treatment with antidepressants" and "Happy pills are not addictive". So he would be aware of the problems of a wholesale removal of such drugs from the market.
The danger is that deflecting his argument in this way avoids answering his points in the article. Cochrane, as far as I can see, haven't said it is going to do that. I'm not saying I necessarily totally agree with his points, eg. I've got a more open mind about the data on suicide risk of antidepressants in children and adolescents. But he is clearly correct about the myths that "Your disease is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain" and that "Psychotropic drugs for mental illness are like insulin for diabetes". I also think the data on whether psychotropic medication creates a vulnerability to relapse merits more debate that it receives.
(With thanks to Olga Runciman)
