The Transformation of Depression

Abstract

This chapter is focused on the concept of depression, and how this mental disorder was transformed from a rare but severe condition into a highly prevalent and heterogeneous catch-all diagnosis, often including mild and transient episodes of normal sadness and unhappiness. It further details how academic psychiatry, with strong support from the pharmaceutical industry, narrowly reduced depression to an unsubstantiated brain disorder. The author also critically discusses the popular chemical imbalance theory of depression. The chapter concludes with an account on how biological reductionism in psychiatry altered mental healthcare and the public perception of both depression and antidepressant use.