THE FALSE PROMISE OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS
Let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Peninah Wood Ph.D. I hold Doctorates in Functional medicine, Nutritional medicine, and Holistic medicine. I am a retired nurse, and I am also a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional Practitioner. Ann has requested that I post my daily classes here. I will post a recent one that was very popular. If a pill could fix it, it would’ve worked by now. THE CHEMICAL IMBALANCE STORY: It wasn’t discovered. It was marketed. 1. WHEN IT HAPPENED (1960s - 2000s) 1960s - 1970s: The hypothesis is born Researchers noticed that certain drugs affected serotonin and norepinephrine. They guessed, not proved, that depression might be caused by low levels of these chemicals. It was a reverse-engineered idea: There was no biomarker, no test, no confirmed deficiency. It was a theory, and even the scientists who proposed it said it was unproven and oversimplified. 1980s: Prozac is developed Eli Lilly needed a simple, memorable story to differentiate Prozac from older antidepressants. They had: - a drug that blocked serotonin reuptake - no clear mechanism for depression - no biomarker to test - no way to prove “correction” But they had a marketing opportunity. Late 1980s - 1990s: The marketing era begins Prozac launches in 1987. This is when the phrase “chemical imbalance” explodes into public consciousness. Not through scientific papers. Through advertising. TV ads, magazine ads, brochures in doctors’ offices, and pharma reps all repeated the same line: “Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. Our drug corrects it.” This was never scientifically validated, but it was: - simple - comforting - non-stigmatizing - easy to explain - easy to sell And it worked. 2000s: The story collapses scientifically By the early 2000s, multiple large reviews found: - no evidence of serotonin deficiency - no consistent neurotransmitter abnormality - no biomarker for depression - no test to diagnose a chemical imbalance Even leaders in psychiatry began publicly stating: