---
title: "Depression NOT caused by ‘chemical imbalance’ but, but “the science”"
type: "post"
post_id: "2638"
slug: "depression-not-caused-by-chemical-imbalance-but-but-the-science"
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published: "2022-07-20T12:54:56+00:00"
modified: "2022-07-20T12:57:38+00:00"
author: "penny2"
categories:
  - "Uncategorized"
tags:
  - "Big Pharma"
  - "Media"
  - "perception management"
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---
[Link](https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/mental-health/depression-study-finds-chemical-cause-of-condition-is-not-grounded-in-science-41853745.html)

> Lead author Joanna Moncrieff – a professor of psychiatry at UCL – said: “I think we can safely say that after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin.
> 
> “***The popularity of the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression has coincided with a huge increase in the use of antidepressants…***

**Marketing. Mass marketing is how the imbalance theory and huge increase in anti depressants profits walk hand in hand**

**The popularity of the covid vaccine effectiveness theory coincided with a global uptake in a vaxx/jab/therapeutical aided by the pharmedia.**

> In the new study, University College London (UCL) researchers said 85% to 90% of the public believes depression is caused by low serotonin or a chemical imbalance.

**The public believes** *(accepts as true)* **this untruth because of the pharmedia** **promoting pharma talking points and talking heads**

[No link between depression and serotonin, finds major analysis](https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/mental-health/depression-study-finds-chemical-cause-of-condition-is-not-grounded-in-science-41853745.html)
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**There has NEVER been any evidence that these pharmaceuticals help resolve depression by correcting a claimed chemical imbalance**. **A chemical imbalance that cannot be shown to exist.**

[Psychology Today](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/side-effects/202207/decisive-blow-the-serotonin-hypothesis-depression)

### Key points

- Surveys indicate that 85-90 percent of the public **believes** ***(accepts as true)*** low serotonin or a chemical imbalance causes depression.
- One study found that among 237 psychology students interviewed, 46 percent had heard the chemical imbalance explanation from a physician.
- The serotonin hypothesis has been challenged repeatedly and found wanting, even as it remains popular and influential in everyday life.
- A comprehensive, well-powered, high-quality umbrella review now determines that the theory is “not empirically substantiated.”
- 
- Almost as soon as it was floated in 1965 by Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Schildkraut, the serotonin hypothesis of [depression](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/depression)—**reduced and simplified by pharma marketing to the “chemical imbalance” theory o**f depression and [anxiety](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/anxiety)—has been subject to critical research and found wanting