Let’s talk about depression: social workers’ use of chemical imbalance explanations

ABSTRACT

Social workers play an important role in helping clients understand the evidence base on which treatment options and choices are made. This study investigates social workers’ use of a biomedical perspective in their practice with clients who experience depression. A majority of licensed social workers who responded to an on-line survey (N = 77) reported using a chemical imbalance explanation of depression. Among the individual and contextual measures analyzed, only attitudes about antidepressants were significantly associated with use of a biochemical explanation. Implications are presented regarding developing social workers’ critical appraisal skills in support of clients’ right to self-determination.

KEYWORDS:

• Chemical imbalance
• depression
• psychopharmacology
• mental health
• informed consent
• social work education
• self-determination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.