While some studies suggest that all antidepressant action is actually a placebo response, this “numbing” effect of SSRI’s is consistently replicated. In fact, even some of the psychiatry critics who think that these drugs are mainly placebos see this reduction in emotional sensitivity as a true pharmacological effect. Somewhat illogically, however, many of the same critics denounce it as a horrifying side effect, ignoring the possibility that these “placebos” may work for some people through precisely
