Anti-depressants’ ‘little effect’.BBCnews, Feb 26, 2008. New generation anti-depressants have little clinical benefit for most patients, research suggests. A University of Hull team concluded the drugs actively help only a small group of the most severely depressed.Marjorie Wallace, head of the mental health charity Sane, said that if these results were confirmed they could be "very disturbing". [ See ]. Watch also BBC video: Anti-depressants have little effect on most patients, a study has shown.