And I don't think this is a positive trend. Teens experimenting with weed, alcohol, and so on should not be encouraged but is, or was, just a part of life. Teens being on antidepressants, prescribed stimulants, and so on is rather quite sad.
Pre-antidepressants my life was fantastic on paper: stable job, close friends, good family, strong relationship, perfect health. But none of it mattered, there was no happiness, no sadness, no fulfillment, no contentment, it's hard to convey the total absence of literally any feeling at all toward anything. And I had no other frame of reference so I thought that's just how life was. I even went to years of therapy and that didn't help either. Eight months of antidepressants and I was a different person. I can't tell you how much regret I feel that I could have been happy for all those big important life moments— my first kiss, my first dance, my prom, winning states, graduating college.
I had the same. Post-SSRIs I have none of those things, and am surprised that I'm still alive.
When I asked my shrink 'why zoloft?' the only reason was 'got to start somewhere'. I wish we had evidence-based psychiatry, but instead we have 'throw shit at the wall' psychiatry.
Once you've been diagnosed with MDD and decide you're willing to try a medication the process of finding one that works and has tolerable side-effects starts. I don't really consider that to be "not evidence based." If you keep a medical journal while you try different drugs you're arguably doing science.