Unrelenting: a media-focused political economy analysis of antidepressant use in Canada

Abstract

Although extensive evidence suggests antidepressants are a non-effective treatment for the majority of depressive cases where they are prescribed and despite other developed countries taking steps to provide alternative treatments, Canada's prescription rates continue rising and no state action is being taken. The primary purpose of this study is to explore whether the media in English-speaking Canada, represented by its "newspaper of record," The Globe and Mail, has been performing its essential role in informing Canadians about the controversy surrounding antidepressants and the pharmaceutical system that that has made them central to treating depression. Data was collected in the form of newspaper articles from between 2000 and 2015 in order to analyze media coverage to ensure the essential facts were reported and to qualify to what degree a patient advocacy role challenging the norms of contemporary treatment has been adopted.