[1] Kirsch is Associate Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and a lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,[2] and professor emeritus of psychology at the Universities of Hull and Plymouth in the United Kingdom, and the University of Connecticut in the United States.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, he and his colleagues acquired from the US Food and Drug Administration the unpublished trial results for six antidepressants.

When the results from both published and unpublished studies were averaged, the researchers concluded that the drugs produced a small but clinically meaningless improvement in mood compared with an inert placebo (sugar pill).

"[19] He states that Irving's conclusions are "provocative but unconvincing", noting that many drugs such as benzodiazepines have been tested for antidepressant activity and found inactive.

"[20] After the program's airing, Jeffrey Lieberman, the American Psychiatric Association's president elect at the time, said, "Dr. Kirsch is mistaken and confused, and he's ideologically biased in his thinking.

What he is concluding is inaccurate, and what he is communicating is misleading to people and potentially harmful to those who really suffer from depression and would be expected to benefit from antidepressant medication.