It is at least somewhat culturally local to the US because the US allows direct-to-consumer advertising, which for years pushed the "chemical imbalance" line.

It is at least somewhat culturally local to the US because the US allows direct-to-consumer advertising, which for years pushed the "chemical imbalance" line. Problem is the "chemical imbalance" line is a myth, there's no evidence that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance or an imbalance of anything else (easily) testable. It was only ever a theory and one that's not very well regarded. See [1], but there are loads more criticizing it. [1] http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020392 http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jou...