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Are you sure? I thought the "chemical imbalance" story was made up by pharmaceutical companies to justify their new class of antidepressants.

https://qz.com/1162154/30-years-after-prozac-arrived-we-stil...

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I mean, if you think about what a brain is, you could consider basically any any mental disorder is just a "chemical imbalance". Saying that depression is one isn't false, but, to your point, I think pharmaceutical companies harp on this point in order to sell antidepressants.

What GP gets right, though, is that depression != sadness. It is normal (and often healthy) to feel sadness after experiencing loss or other hardships. It is not healthy to feel hopeless and devoid of energy for months on end... that's what depression is.

Yes, I am sure. Drugs are a medical treatment for depression but are not the only or generally preferred treatment.

Have you ever tried to seek treatment for depression? I and others I know have found it incredibly hard to get any sort of treatment other than the SSRI at the top of their list.

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