The Myth of Low-Serotonin & Antidepressants - Dr. Mark Horowitz

Dr. Mark Horowitz, MBBS PhD is a training psychiatrist and Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) and an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at UCL. He runs the Psychotropic drug Deprescribing Clinic in North East London NHS Foundation Trust. Mark completed a PhD in the neurobiology of depression and the action of antidepressants at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Dr. Horowitz is an Associate Editor of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. He co-authored the recent Royal College of Psychiatry guidance on ‘Stopping Antidepressants’, and his work has informed the recent NICE guidelines on safe tapering of psychiatric medications. He has written several papers about safe approaches to tapering psychiatric medications including publications in The Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry and Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Dr. Horowitz has an interest in rational psychopharmacology, the way in which psychiatric drugs are often mis-represented to the public and safely deprescribing these drugs.

Follow him on Twitter @markhoro

0:00 - Intro
2:45 - Rise in Antidepressants
4:07 - Disease Centered Model
7:17 - Drug Centered Model
8:59 - What do Antidepressants Actually Do?
10:28 - Antidepressants vs. Placebo
13:59 - Withdrawal
18:10 - Misdiagnosis
19:19 - Helping People Off Antidepressants
23:25 - Hyperbolic Tapering
26:45 - What Needs to Change

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[PWizz]

SSRIs helped me through a horrific part of my life, I was on them for just under a year….. My doctor gave me the best answer ‘ It isn’t going to be these pills that cure you, it’s up to you to resolve the pain in your life, these will just make it easier to bridge that gap’

[LytosOfficial]

Almost everything you said can be applied to benzodiazepines as well. I can't find ANY doctor with the right knowledge about how to properly taper off my medication... So I found myself forced to go from doctor to doctor, storing the medication, and with a lot of research and effort do my own taper off plan. They always think they know better than you because they are doctors and you're not, but they lack empathy and experience. I almost died, and also a friend of mine, from the benzo withdrawal symptoms and I can assure you I'm not going to go through that again just because of someone's arrogance. Thank you for this video and for spreading the message. Best Regards.

[lexalot]

I took anti-depressants for two and a half years to deal with severe social anxiety stemming from ASD. I've been coming off them for the past two months. Honestly, it hasn't been too bad. I've suffered from insomnia and gastric upset on occasion, but emotionally, I feel better than ever. Here's to a better future 🎉

[VeganSemihCyprus]

“Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction It is already happening to some extent in our own society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual's internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.” - Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski

[hermeticsource]

You know you live in clown world when psychedelics that have a higher safety rating than coffee are made as illigal as heroin while also having the most potent long term anti depressant effects ever seen in human history.

[chestercopperpot]

Just want to take a minute to appreciate the outstanding work of the illustrator!

[humanbeans]

Thank you for this, i'm a therapist and often feel undermined by the field of psychiatry. In my role we're expected to encourage people to take medication, then we're never supposed to talk about side effects or them getting off medication.

[michealsmith]

I've never heard my EXACT frustrations, thoughts, fears, or internal dialogue so perfectly captured as in this video. I emailed my doc before I was even finished watching because this was/is SO spot on to the last 8 years or so of my life, SPECIFICALLY, the last 2 years trying but failing to wean off my SSRI. Thank you so much for making this video!! I have a new sense of hope that I had lost before seeing this ✨️

[sarahpersonalexcellenceguide]

I thought I had depression 11 years ago. I numbed myself with Wellbutrin about 3 months before I was like, NOPE! I just had a terrible boss/job, bad habits, and the wrong attitude. I changed jobs, started exercising and taking vitamins, stopped eating bread, paid off my college debt, made friends through bicycling clubs, and got into personal development. That whole body/mind/lifestyle tactic changed my life!

Depression isn’t because something’s wrong with you, it’s a red flag that something’s not right. We’ve gotta stop internalizing the ugliness of our society’s way of life/employment and blaming ourselves for feeling unhappy in a world that cares about money more than well-being.

[carleyfries]

I was so overmedicated as a child. I needed help with my trauma, not to be fed prescriptions and told this was just how I am.

[JH-exmb]

As a person who suffered from anxiety and depression and who was on an anti-depression for about 18 months and made the decision to get off it about 4 years ago, I very much appreciated this video. The drug had me put on weight, lose my sex drive and made me feel like I was in a fog. I decided that I did not want to live that way and was weened off the drug over a 6 month period. I am doing good and glad for my decision. THANK YOU

[ritagordon]

I was on anti depressants for 25 years! My doctor said I could wean off within 4 weeks and I said no ways as “who was I without them) so I did it over 6 months as I was on a high doze. Been off for years now as was best thing I ever did. Saying that, whether placebo or not, the pill supported me whilst stuck in my trauma cycle

I’m a huge fan of meditation and actually feeling the feelings (not the pain story) as it literally changed my life 8 years ago.

[tranquility]

To be fair my Dr told me we don’t really know how SSRIs work and most of what is accepted comes from marketing and was only ever theory, all we know is some people find them useful, some not much and some not at all. She also said they may give me a lift that would then enable me to make changes in my life which would actually be the things that make the difference. She was a fairly young Dr and i appreciated her up front honesty giving the facts.

[rorrschach]

One problem with anti-depressants is that the withdrawal is worse than the depression, which is then mistaken for your actual depression. The withdrawal hits and you think "Gee this must be what my depression really feels like. I better stay on the drugs so I don't feel this bad all the time." I was on SSRIs for 15 years, absolutely zombied out of my mind and incapable of doing anything, just waiting for something to change. Long story short I stopped the drugs and when the withdrawal hit I had to remind myself "This is the withdrawal, not the depression." After 6 months I started to feel the difference, and after 9 months my depression was gone.

[martinharris]

Great talk Mark. very balanced and respectful. I have two relatives with anxiety/depression issues. One takes meds, and finds them helpful. One refuses to take meds and seeks drug-free management solutions. I support both as everyone is different.

[ShanaAlversonFitness]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. Was able to help my mother get off her antidepressants — the well-known, adverse effect of suicidal ideation caused by the drug had her calling me threatening to slit her wrists — would have been so much easier if we’d had this information first! She’s been off for over a year and is actually LESS depressed now and getting better. Thank you so much for sharing- SO IMPORTANT!! 🙏🙏🙏

[mikeknowles]

I've told people for years that there is no evidence to support the idea that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and they look at me like I'm crazy. To this day I believe that my little brother killed himself due to withdrawal symptoms from these meds. I am so grateful for this video and I'm going to spread it around as much as I can.

[Oskar-S-]

Depression is literaly hell on earth. It is a battle against the mind. The chase of escaping pain. For anyone out there battling, remember nothing lasts forever. Hand on there ❤❤. All the love all the power

[robertcrouse]

As a therapist i work hard to help people find alternative ways of dealing with their struggles without drugs. This video is perfect to help them make an informed consent. Thank you for all the work you put into this video.

[APOLLINAIREBARTHOLOMIEU]

Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.