In the United States, antidepressants are commonly used as a first-line treatment for depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The growing normalization of these medications is reflected in calls for over-the-counter availability and their favorable portrayal across social media. Many Americans used these antidepressants for relief of mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Antidepressant medications are currently being used regularly by tens of millions in the U.S. However, scientific research presents skepticism regarding the effectiveness of antidepressants and their appropriate usage by patients. For decades, the prevailing theory suggested that depression was caused by a serotonin imbalance in the brain. A large review conducted in 2022 found that existing scientific evidence failed to support this theory. According to the researchers, we lack a full understanding of how antidepressants interact with the brain and their operational mechanisms.
The practice of mainstream psychiatry defends antidepressant real-world success through the NIMH-funded STAR*D trial, which originally stated antidepressants could achieve a “nearly 70%” remission rate for patients. Multiple thorough scientific examinations identified methodological flaws that likely contributed to misleading conclusions in the study. Multiple peer-reviewed evaluations during the last 15 years reviewed the validity of findings from STAR*D.
H. Edmund Pigott and his colleagues performed a full patient-level data reanalysis of the study results in 2023 to amend the scientific record. The results obtained from analyzing patient-level data showed that actual remission rates reached only 35%, even though the study originally reported a rate of 67%.
Antidepressants appeared to elevate the suicide risk, especially among younger individuals. This led the FDA to add a strong warning label for people under 25 years old. Prolonged antidepressant treatment leads to deteriorating symptoms of depression. Researchers from Switzerland tracked participants over 30 years and found stronger depression symptoms. People who took antidepressants for multiple years showed increased depression symptoms, according to U.S. research, yet this group had worse outcomes than individuals who received therapy or no medication.
The brain’s ability to adapt to medications over time created oppositional tolerance. Antidepressant discontinuation, either by rapid or slow methods, can cause withdrawal symptoms such as brain zaps and restlessness, which represent different symptoms compared to heroin addiction. Medical experts now recommend that it takes between months and years to safely stop antidepressant usage, according to new guidelines, despite previous beliefs that only a few weeks were needed.
Antidepressant discontinuation attempts described by professionals were so complex that they reported it as an exceptionally challenging process. Patients’ life stories and literature from other drug withdrawal survivors provided detailed accounts of drug damage, which professional psychiatric practice tended to miss. Our present belief about antidepressants states that they provide a medical solution to brain issues in the same way insulin treats diabetes. Medical experts have not yet established a brain defect as the origin of depression.
Antidepressants may be better understood as psychoactive substances that alter brain chemistry, rather than medications that correct an identifiable brain defect. Using psychiatric drugs provides temporary pain relief, but such usage results in negative consequences, including emotional numbness, substance dependence, and mental decline.
The “drug-centered” model has been developed by research scientist Joanna Moncrieff. According to this view, antidepressants are substances that affect the entire brain, much like alcohol or recreational drugs, but they are not seen as solutions that fix underlying problems. People might reconsider long-term antidepressant use when antidepressants are seen as substances that affect brain functions in the same way as alcohol and recreational drugs.
Antidepressants create an erroneous impression about their therapeutic properties. The medications do not treat depression, as such an intended purpose never existed when they were first developed. Serotonin activity destabilization drugs would represent a more accurate alternative to their current name. The general prescription of antidepressants in America exists due to misinterpretations from pharmaceutical companies and outdated scientific research, as well as media misinformation. The American people need to examine how these medications truly work before continuing to label them as safe and effective.
References: Tunde Aidevan. America’s Unhealthy Relationship with Antidepressants. Published April 24, 2025. Accessed April 25, 2025. America’s Unhealthy Relationship with Antidepressants – Mad In America
