Drug marketers have been extraordinarily adept at selling SSRIs—even to people who may not need them. Consider that the drugs, once limited to treating major depression, are now prescribed for everything from shyness about peeing in public restrooms to shopoholism. The explosive growth of the drugs' market is largely a story of clever branding as makers of "me too" SSRIs sought to replicate Prozac's success. Pfizer, for example, positioned Zoloft, launched in 1992, as a versatile antidepressant that could also treat ills such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Glaxo targeted Paxil, launched in 1993, at anxiety disorders such as SAD (social anxiety disorder, or excessive shyness) and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder, or unremitting angst)—ills that had received little attention before Glaxo began promoting Paxil to treat them. Lilly countered by expanding Prozac's indications to include PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or very bad moods some women suffer before their periods) and depression in children.

No therapeutic category is more accepting of condition branding than the field of anxiety and depression, where illness is rarely based on measurable physical symptoms." Why not drugs for compulsive shopping.