I’LL KEEP TAKING ANTIDEPRESSANTS
LAST week I wrote in You magazine about taking antidepressants for my anxiety. I was overwhelmed by the response, with scores of readers writing to thank me for being so honest.
But I also saw some odd criticism on Twitter, from a handful of fringe psychiatry researchers who seem to have made it their business to find negative things to say about the tablets.
One, dismissively calling me a ‘TV doctor’, suggested I was mistaken that low levels of the brain chemical serotonin caused depression. But I said no such thing. I’m well aware serotonin isn’t the be-all and end-all of mental health – my point is this doesn’t matter.
What matters is that antidepressants work. That’s what matters to my patients, who I encourage to ignore the naysayers. Until that changes, I’m going to carry on taking and prescribing them.