Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche discusses the first of the 10 myths of psychiatry that he outlines in his article “Psychiatry Gone Astray”: the myth that mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance and can be fixed with drugs. Gøtzsche argues there is no evidence to support the myth and says psychiatric disorders should be treated with psychotherapy rather than medications. “Antipsychotics have no specific effects at all on psychosis,” he explains.

In this 2017 narrative review, Michael Hengartner discusses the evidence assessing the effectiveness and harms of antidepressants. He finds the evidence of benefits insufficient and the harms sufficiently great to argue continued treatment should not be recommended for the majority of patients on an evidentiary basis.