Marketing the myth of serotonin, the ‘happy chemical’ (2015)

First, what is right in the article: It's unclear exactly how SSRI drugs work and the precise role the serotonin plays in regulating mood (and therefore depression)

But then there is so much wrong here it's hard to know where to begin. I'll go with the basics though: The article relies primarily on two doctors, one who is at odds with the consensus in the field and another based on an editorial, not a peer-reviewed piece of research.

In fact, peer reviewed research directly contradicts some of the opinions, such as stating it's unknown if SSRI medications raise or lower serotonin. It is known, they do raise it [0] (and many other pieces of research to support this)

Undoubtedly pharmaceutical companies have made quite a bit of serotonin and drugs that influence it, but calling serotonin a "myth" is, at best, overreach and at worst click-bait.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921409/

"30+ years of psychopharm texts and not a single mention of "chemical imbalance". If you are reading a book that includes that term - burn it. It was written by an antipsychiatrist."

https://twitter.com/dawso007/status/1108920829344186368

Modern medicine is all about ignoring root causes and prescribing to mask symptoms.