>You meant American, because in the UK the front-line treatment for depression or anxiety is a talking therapy, coupled with social prescribing (which to be fai

>You meant American, because in the UK the front-line treatment for depression or anxiety is a talking therapy, coupled with social prescribing (which to be fair has variable availability), and then medication if indicated. It's the front-line treatment for mild depression and mild-to-moderate anxiety, because of the poor evidence for the efficacy of antidepressant medicines for patients with less severe illness. SSRIs and talking therapies are recommended equally for moderate or severe depression and severe anxiety, because the evidence suggests that they are equally effective. NICE guidance states that benzodiazepines should not be prescribed for more than two weeks, because of diminishing efficacy and the risk of dependence. SSRIs are cheaper and more convenient than psychotherapy, which should not be underestimated. The NHS certainly can't afford to offer psychotherapy to everyone who could benefit and many Americans don't have adequate insurance coverage. Getting psychotherapy outside of office hours can often be a significant challenge, which is a total dealbreaker for many people. I would certainly like to see greater use of psychotherapy (particularly for people with chronic and/or severe disorders), but there's nothing innately wrong with the widespread use of a safe and effective class of drugs. There just isn't any evidence to suggest that SSRIs are inferior to psychotherapy, although it may be the case that some patients who do not benefit from SSRIs would benefit from psychotherapy (and vice-versa). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg90/chapter/1-Guidance#step-3-persistent-subthreshold-depressive-symptoms-or-mild-to-moderate-depression-with-inadequate https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg90/chapter/1-Guidance#ste... https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg113/chapter/1-Guidance#stepped-care-for-people-with-gad https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg113/chapter/1-Guidance#st...