Joanna Moncrieff
Personal Perspective on the Systematic Review of Serotonin Imbalance Hypothesis for depression and Mechanism of Action for Antidepressants
My adult ADHD drugs felt like a lifeline. Then came the scary side-effects …
How to take the news that depression has not been shown to be caused by a chemical imbalance
A Decisive Blow to the Serotonin Hypothesis of Depression

This article by Christopher Lane has been published in Psychology Today. It begins: “Almost as soon as it was floated in 1965 by Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Schildkraut, the serotonin hypothesis of depression —reduced and simplified by pharma marketing to the ‘chemical imbalance’…
Read more
Is the chemical imbalance an ‘urban legend’? An exploration of the status of the serotonin theory of depression in the scientific literature

This study/article by Benjamin Anga, MarkHorowitz and Joanna Moncrieff has been published in ScienceDirect. The abstract says: “The theory that depression is caused by a serotonin abnormality or other chemical imbalance has become widely accepted by the public and is one…
Read more
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
Depression: why drugs and electricity are not the answer
The case for establishing a minimal medication alternative for psychosis and schizophrenia

This opinion piece by Ruth Cooper, John Mason, John Richardson, and Joanna Moncrieff has been published in the journal Psychosis. The abstract says: “The development of severe mental health conditions is strongly linked to our environments, particularly experiences of trauma and adversity….
Read more