Episode #80: The ways we respond to our environment and how they impact flourishing, with Dr. Joanna Moncrieff

Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, M.D., is Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London, and a consultant psychiatrist for the NHS in London. She studies the effects, action, use and representation of psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and antipsychotics, and has also written about the history and philosophy of psychiatry. 

 

Joanna has published several books, the most recent of which is Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth (2025). Her previous books include The Myth of the Chemical Cure, The Bitterest Pills and A Straight Talking Introduction to Psychiatric Drugs.

 

Joanna has written for The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Conversation, Literary Review, was profiled in The Spectator and has been interviewed for Channel 4’s Ways to Change the World Podcast, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee’s Feel Better, Live More podcast, The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast and the Evening Standard’s Tech and Science Daily, among others. 

 

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Links:

• • Website
  • University College London webpage
  • Twitter
  • Publications
  • Google Scholar

• Psychology Today blog

Timestamps:

 

[00:03:04] Critical psychiatry's alternative perspective.

[00:04:10] Questioning the pharmaceutical industry's dominance.

[00:09:40] Emotional reactions to personal loss.

[00:14:00] Serotonin theory of depression.

[00:17:27] SSRIs versus benzodiazepines distinction.

[00:21:44] Biological vs. psychological treatment approaches.

[00:27:50] Flourishing despite mental illness.

[00:30:56] The role of suffering.

[00:36:09] Emotions as signals for change.

[00:42:07] Psychedelics and depression treatment.

[00:46:19] Depression's complex nature.

[00:48:38] Finding purpose in life.