How do antidepressants work? - Neil R. Jeyasingam episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 31, 2026 · 7 MIN

How do antidepressants work? - Neil R. Jeyasingam

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Dig into the discovery of antidepressant drugs, how they work, and what we still don’t know about depression.--In the 1950s, the discovery of two new drugs sparked what would become a multi-billion dollar market for antidepressants. Neither drug was intended to treat depression at all— many doctors and scientists believed psychotherapy was the only approach to treatment. Neil R. Jeyasingam details the decades-long journey that followed and how it revolutionized our understanding of depression.Lesson by Neil R. Jeyasingam, directed by Skirmanta Jakaitė, Art Shot.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-antidepressants-neil-r-jeyasingamDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-antidepressants-neil-r-jeyasingam#digdeeper----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jezabel, Adriano Fontes, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez, SpartacusDMR, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Leonardo Monrroy, Sumedh Ghaisas, Guhten, Maryam, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rare Media, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, NinjaBoffin, Jesse Jurman, Josue Perez Miranda, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, Lawrence Wu, Xavier Dupont, Aravind Battaje, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, John Hong, Annastasshia Ames, Sebastiaan Hols, Aries SW, Amy Lopez, Liz Candee, Kathryn Vacha, Anthony Arcis, Jeffrey Segrest, Karmi Nguyen, Yelena Baykova, Harshita Jagdish Sahijwani, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Mohamed Elsayed and Les Howard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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