Effectiveness of antidepressant drugs In issue 13 of Taking Sides, the controversial question of whether antidepressant drugs have proven effective is analyzed. Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer argues in this issue that antidepressant drugs "can transform depressed patients into happy people with almost no side effects" (p. 212). In contrast, psychology professors Seymour Fisher and Roger P. Greenburg "claim that studies demonstrating the effectiveness of antidepressants are seriously flawed" (p. 212). Kramer's agreement with the above statement is mainly due to the tests he performed on his patient Tess and antidepressant medications. However Fisher and Greenberg disagree with the statement mainly because of the drug studies that are being conducted. Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer experimented with the antidepressant drug Prozac with one of his patients, Tess. In this way, Kramer learned many things about Prozac and its effects on people. The experience also leads him to ask many other questions about the drug. Tess was a patient who came from an abusive childhood and therefore a...