We still don’t know what triggers depression. Pharmaceutical manufacturers claim that anti- depressants correct a chemical imbalance in the brain, but there is no proof that low levels of seratonin cause depression. Antidepressants do change how we feel, in a way that some find helpful and others don’t. But that doesn’t mean they are addressing a chemical imbalance. Many people find alcohol helps them relax, but that’s not because it’s correcting an alcohol deficiency in their brain.

One study says that for children and teenagers with major depression, 13 of the 14 drugs analysed don’t work. Previous research suggests that for adults too, the Prozac class of antidepressants are placebos, at least for people with mild or moderate depression.

Despite this, the number of prescriptions written for these drugs rises every year. In the poorest areas of the UK a staggering one in six people, many with only general sadness, are taking them. Antidepressants can be life-savers for those with severe depression, but it is thought that doctors, who write most of the prescriptions, may know the drugs do little good but may feel they have little else to offer a patient sitting in front of them. They know that antidepressants can have downsides – including withdrawal symptoms, loss of sex drive and weight gain, but they need to be seen to be doing something.

Most alarmingly, in a few people they trigger violent or suicidal thoughts. A new study suggests that of all the antidepressants, one called venlafaxine was the most likely to make teenagers suicidal. Prozac was deemed to be the most effective. But the authors complained that they couldn’t properly assess some of the drugs because of a lack of information. Why is that? Because drug manufacturers refuse to release all data from clinical trials. (based on an article by Clare Wilson in the New Scientist)

I suspect that drugs are not the answer – an interesting job, a desire to learn, an absorbing interest, an objective in life, something other than soccer and the telly – these do the trick. Epicurus drew people into his garden and inspired them, took them out of themselves and encouraged them to think about life, and not just their own. We need more Epicuri.