Mission Statement

The Not Broken Project challenges the dominant narrative that emotional and psychological distress is evidence of a ‘broken brain’, requiring lifelong pharmaceutical treatment.

About seven million Australians (over a quarter of the population) are taking mind altering drugs for emotional distress and behavioural challenges (most commonly, anxiety, depression, ADHD) as well as for what is commonly referred to as serious mental illness (1-3% of the population). It’s time to look more critically at what is actually going on and chart a new course. 

Our commitment

We are committed to creating a more compassionate, informed, and holistic approach to supporting mental health through:

  • 1. Raising Awareness

    We educate the public, health professionals, and policymakers on the limitations of the 'chemical imbalance' theory and the over medicalisation of mental distress more generally.

  • 2. Improving care and treatment

    We provide information to help clinicians, and the general public better understand the scientific realities of psychotropic medications—including side effects and withdrawal—encouraging more informed, patient-centred care. When doctors prescribe drugs to relieve mental distress or behavioural challenges, they will do so understanding that in most cases they are suppressing symptoms, not correcting an underlying chemical imbalance.

  • 3. Advocating for Policy Reform

    We work to shift mental health policy toward addressing the social, developmental, and environmental roots of mental distress, reducing reliance on medication-first approaches.

    Ultimately people seeking help for mental distress or behavioural challenges will no longer be left feeling that have a broken brain or lifelong deficit which can only be helped by biomedical intervention. 

We’re not alone in our concerns

  • The World Health Organisation (WHO) states it’s ‘critical that the mental health system and services widen their focus beyond a biomedical model to also include a more holistic approach that considers all aspects of a person’s life.
  • The Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system (2020) said the system had become unbalanced with an over reliance on medication.
  • The UK Beyond Pills All Party Parliamentary Group (May 2024) has called for radical change, with a shift towards more social interventions and away from pharmaceutical and other purely biomedical ones.
  • 90% of Australians believe depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. There is no scientific evidence of this (Moncrieff 2021).
  • There has been an exponential increase in the prescribing of amphetamines for children in Australia, with little examination of the long-term risks. Australia’s youth are reporting higher levels of mental distress than ever before despite increasing use of medication. 

What the data shows

Medication use varies considerably across the world.

Consumptions of psychotropic medicines according to geographic region (DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day)
Country Consumption of psychotropic medicines (DDD per 1000 people per day)
Africa 17
Western Africa (Middle East) 30
Asia 6
Oceania 143
Nothern America 168
Latin America and the Caribbean 19
Europe 55

Prescribing of psychiatric drugs in Australia has increased dramatically, mostly antidepressants and ADHD drugs and mostly prescribed by GPs.

Number of patients prescribed mental-health related prescriptions in Australia, by type of medication and prescribing medical practitioner 10-year trend: 2014–15 to 2023–24
  General practitioners Psychiatrists Non-psychiatric specialists
All medication types 3,597,548 – 4,431,204 322,692 – 498,629 340,155 – 559,317
Psychostimulants, agents used for ADHD and nootropics (N06B) 31,797 – 160,072 38,181 – 248,622 76,097 – 254,561
Antipsychotics (N05A) 373,563 – 417,973 119,631 – 109,945 26,746 – 39,681
Anxiolytics (N05B) 882,110 – 810,739 53,488 – 47,488 46,372 – 38,891
Hypnotics and sedatives (N05C) 752,334 – 518,285 22,894 – 13,711 55,563 – 34,675
Antidepressants (N06A) 2,601,163 – 3,518,152 227,175 – 252,384 178,211 – 267,363

There has been an exponential increase in the prescribing of amphetamines for children in Australia, with little examination of the long-term risks. Australia’s youth are reporting higher levels of mental distress than ever before despite increasing use of medication.

Number of people per 1,000 who were prescribed medication for treatment of ADHD in Australia between 2004–05 to 2023–24

 

2004–05 

People per 1,000

2023–24

People per 1,000
All ADHD medications 2 22
Dexamfetamine 2 6
Methylphenidate 1 11
Lisdexamfetamine 1 9
Atomoxetine 0 1
Guanfacine 0 2

Australians are the 3rd highest users of SSRIs (antidepressants) per capita with little evidence that we are any happier.

Click to view graphs for each table.

Number of people per 1,000 who took antidepressants globally, 2021. Full text description of data below

  • Text description of graph
    Number of people per 1,000 who took antidepressants globally, 2021
    Country People per 1,000
    Korea 13
    Chile 13
    Estonia 18
    Hungary 27
    Slovak Republic 31
    Italy 42
    Netherlands 42
    Czech Republic 44
    France 50
    Germany 50
    Slovenia 50
    Luxembourg 51
    Norway 58
    Spain 64
    Belgium 70
    Finland 70
    United Kingdom 71
    Portugal 78
    Sweden 79
    Denmark 85
    Canada 86
    Australia 89
    Iceland 106
    United States 110

Get involved

You can help reshape the future of mental health care:

Share the message
Spread awareness by sharing our mission, resources, and research within your networks.

Attend & engage
Join our events, webinars, and talks to stay connected and informed.

Lend your voice
Share your lived experience or professional perspective to enrich the conversation.

Support advocacy
Participate in campaigns for ethical and evidence-based mental health policy.

Contribute or collaborate
Donate, volunteer, or partner with us to help sustain and expand our work.