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As someone who's on antidepressants, I'm probably admittedly biased. I think they are a valuable tool in treating depression, but should not be the only tool. There are tons of clinical studies showing that exercise + therapy is as effective as Prozac at treating major depressive disorder. But a lot of times, people need the drugs to get them over the initial symptoms of depression so they can even deal with the underlying causes and start to take action. And there IS such a thing as a chemical imablance. That's just empirically true.
As for advertising, I am SO against advertising of drugs. Doctors should be the best judges of what medications people need, and I think advertising creates undue pressure on them to prescribe this or that drug that someone thinks they need. Add to that the pressure on them from pharmaceutical companies themselves, and I think the medical system is just overrun with pressure to prescribe when it may not be necessary.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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