How did we come to believe that human emotions are simply chemical fluctuations? What role did the pharmaceutical industry, the media, and the healthcare system itself play in constructing this idea? For decades, we have been told that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain -specifically, a lack of serotonin- and that antidepressants are the solution. But what if this narrative, so widely disseminated by professionals, the media, and the pharmaceutical industry, were nothing more than a myth based on scientifically unsound foundations? In The Antidepressant Myth, renowned psychiatrist and academic Joanna Moncrieff debunks the serotonergic theory of depression through rigorous scientific evidence. In a fascinating journey through more than half a century of research, health policy, and cultural change, Moncrieff reveals how an idea that began as a tentative hypothesis ended up becoming unquestioned dogma. Critical but accessible, this book challenges many of the false beliefs that have shaped modern psychiatry and invites us to rethink the biomedical model of mental health.