In the 1980s and 1990s, drug companies pushed SSRIs as a cure for depression. Here’s why

John Sutter : Drug companies used to convince the world that SSRIs worked.

In practice, these clinical trials weren’t actually double-blind, he says.

The vast majority of patients were able to “break blind,” as they say in the industry, Sutter says.

Use of SSRIs among teenagers and adults in the U.S. increased by almost 400% from the early 1990’s to 2006 .

By 2014 , one in ten adults was filling an SSRI prescription.

From 2015 to 2021 , SSRI use increased by another 35% . Meanwhile, the number of Americans suffering from depression has kept increasing.

John Sutter : RFK Jr. has received a lot of push back already over his claim that SSRIs can be more addictive than heroin.

Sutter says that was not a conspiracy theory at all; it was settled science.

He says RFK 's commission is an important step; it's clear we have evidence that antidepressants are causing more harm than most people realize.