Johann Hari Bloomsbury Circus, 2018, HB, 336pp, £10.97, 978-1408878682
A teenage Johann Hari is prescribed paroxetine, an antidepressant, for the first time. Your depression, he is told by his GP, is a result of ‘a chemical imbalance in the brain’ caused by ‘depleted levels of a chemical named serotonin’. Hari places the pill in his mouth. As the ‘chemical kiss’ caresses his tongue and sinks to his stomach, Hari experiences:
‘… a light thrumming I was sure consisted of my brain synapses groaning and creaking into the correct configuration … I could do anything … with my new chemical armor. I wasn’t …