Per the article: > For some commentators, the recent downfall of the chemical imbalance theory has cast doubt on the use of existing antidepressant drugs, whic

Per the article: > For some commentators, the recent downfall of the chemical imbalance theory has cast doubt on the use of existing antidepressant drugs, which were meant to restore the lost serotonin. Yet the data certainly suggests that they work better than placebos – and the authors of these two new books can explain why. For Nord, it is because antidepressant drugs help to correct the fundamental biases in someone’s perceptions of the world. This change occurs incredibly quickly. People with depression are more likely to see anger, and less likely to see happiness, in neutral facial expressions – but in many patients, this tendency begins to disappear after they have taken just one antidepressant pill. Gold, meanwhile, points to studies showing that our current antidepressant pills encourage the birth of new brain cells and neural connections, which would help people to break free of the hyperactive stress response.