Over seventeen million Americans are currently prescribed Anti-Depressants. Recent scientific studies conclude that the commonly accepted theory of depression that identifies the condition as a "chemical imbalance" in the brain is invalid. Along with research that shows common medications for treatment of depression such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft as having nothing more than a placebo effect on a large majority of patients within clinical trials, the true effectiveness and value of these drugs has been brought into question. A multi-million dollar pharmaceutical industry and the field of psychiatry have much at stake. It would seem that it would be in their interest to keep the myth of the "chemical imbalance" theory of depression alive.
This is how up until recently science had explained why antidepressants worked based on based on the flawed theory:
This is how up until recently science had explained why antidepressants worked based on based on the flawed theory: