Doctors, patients and TV viewers who grew up after the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant revolution (which began in 1987 with Prozac) may not remember that "depression" was once not a chronic condition and "ask your doctor" ads did not always dominate the airwaves.
When the SSRI monetization campaign began, people who were sometimes unhappy, nervous or confused suddenly had a permanent chemical imbalance condition that Prozac and its many descendants could treat--if they took them for decade$.
The SSRI revolution changed the very face of psychiatric care, ensnaring a full quarter of the US population into "happy pill" regimens that are almost impossible to quit.
The SSRI agenda demoted psychiatrists to 15-minute "med checkers" and created chains of drug-funded inpatient, outpatient and online "behavioral medicine" practices. It created a tsunami of new psychiatric patients taking drug cocktails and "treatment resistant" preparations for conditions they may not have even had. Wall Street sat up and noticed.
Doctors Cheerleading for Big Pharma
So many US doctors receive drugmaker funding for speeches and research, an FDA Commissioner once lamented the agency couldn't find unaffiliated doctors for drug approval committees.
The recent Internet alarm-- squeal, actually--that proposed government agency cuts would end "research," "innovation" and "science" reveals in stark relief just how many "jobs" Pharma is providing. ("See ya in the unemployment line, Doc.")
As the US Pharma/Government/Industrial complex is exposed and dismantled, some doctors are penning reactionary essays. One is called, "Here's How Psychiatrists Actually Prescribe," by Chase T. M. Anderson, MD in MedPage Today.
Previously suicidal as a "Black, gay medical student," Dr. Anderson now charges that "HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is undermin[ing] the work of me and my psychiatrist colleagues. He has indicated that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other psychiatric medications may be a threat and implied that these medications" are overprescribed.
A threat, Dr. Anderson? A black box warning appears on the drugs' labels for suicide. Why?
SSRIs are suspected of causing the growing diagnosis of "bipolar disorder--another threat.
The "chemical imbalance" theory, the actual premise on which SSRIs prescribing rests, was debunked in 2022 by University College London (UCL) scientists. "After reviewing decades of research, there's no evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression," they wrote in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Another Doctor Weighs In With a Different Opinion
Not all doctors agree about SSRIs.
In a May essay titled, "A world Without Antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?" Tomi Mitchell, MD, depicts the following scenarios if psych drugs disappeared:
*"In Aisle 5, a grown man cries into a box of cornflakes because his favorite brand is sold out. His SSRI used to keep that kind of emotional tidal wave at bay, but not today."
* "[A] woman meticulously arranges apples by color in the produce section. Her OCD is running the show now."
* In school, kids deprived of their psych meds "are bouncing off the walls. The teacher's voice is lost in a sea of impulsive blurts, and meltdowns are part of the daily schedule."
Unlike Dr. Anderson, Dr, Mitchell is not a psych drug cheerleader. Instead, she says a world without antidepressants and other mental drugs "would force us to finally stare down some truths we've dodged for too long," like our cultural inequality, disconnection and lack of support for those with issues. The drugs are Band-Aids, she implies,
The Upside of SSRIs
The SSRI revolution, begun by Prozac, raised health care costs, caused health problems in users like weight gain and fractures, cut patients off from their emotions and diluted the power of activists through the sowing of hypochondria and victim politics
Still, psych drug hawking has done two valuable things. It has funded newscasts through "ask your doctor" ads and it has afforded a revenue stream to celebrity endorsers who can't get work anymore.
(Article changed on May 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM EDT)
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