Antidepressants May be Worsening Depression, Not Treating It
Julie Fidler, Natural Society
Waking Times
Could it all be based on a myth?
For years we’ve been told that depression is caused by low serotonin levels in the brain. Now, a leading professor of psychiatry is warning that belief is little more than a dangerous miscommunication, saying the marketing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs is “based on a myth.”
SSRI use began to skyrocket in the early 1990’s. The drugs were seen as a safer alternative to tranquilizers, which were the standard treatment for depression until that time. Despite being weaker than old-style tricyclic antidepressants, they grew in popularity because it was believed they restored serotonin levels back to normal, “a notion that later transmuted into the idea that they remedied a chemical imbalance,” said David Healy, head of psychiatry at the Hergest psychiatric unit in Bangor, North Wales.






