[ggm]

I grossly oversimplified what he said, and he's a trained clinical psychologist. The underlying point is exactly what you said: Anti-depressants have very complex mechanisms of action which we don't fully understand, and may not understand for a long time.

That they work is good. That they work about as well as CBT does, poses questions which as you observe goes to: Obviously therapy and other techniques should be attempted before drug prescription

[ComputerGuru]

With no disrespect intended to your friend, a trained clinical psychologist wouldn’t necessarily know the underlying mechanism of these drugs. The split between medical psychiatry and clinical psychology is real.