Depression
It’s like that part in the television programme QI: the screen has gone black
and is ?ashing because Alan Davies has just said something that most people
believe, and Stephen Fry is gloating over the error and showing his superior
knowledge. We’ve all been Alan Davies, shortly (and without the gloating)
we’ll become Stephen Fry!
levels. (It’s done by messing about with tryptophan, a
serotonin precursor.) And guess what? The subjects
didn’t become depressed.
Other scientists even came to the conclusion
that too much serotonin causes depression – and
suggested this as a reason for the side-e?ects of
SSRIs.
But there’s another issue here. Does a low (or high)
serotonin level cause depression, or does depression
cause a change in serotonin level?
Let’s take a more detailed look at the arguments
against serotonin causing depression. Firstly, how
come it takes a month of taking SSRIs before there are
any noticeable e?ects? Wouldn’t raising the serotonin
level kick in pretty quickly if the theory was correct?
Isn’t that what people argue as they tuck into a bar
of chocolate. The evidence from medication would
suggest that you should eat chocolate for a month
before you felt happier!! Secondly, SSRIs would
work on everyone in the same way. Yet the evidence
suggests SSRIs work on only 60% of people.
SSRIs obviously work – albeit slowly and on just
over half the population – so how are they working? It
looks like they also increase neurogenesis – the birth
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