For decades, people have believed that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.
The theory that serotonin levels in the brain are linked to depression first appeared in the 1960s.In the 1990s, it became quite popular because pharmaceutical companies needed to promote the sale of antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.This was also supported by the American Psychiatric Association.
These antidepressants work in a way that temporarily increases the availability of serotonin in the brain. But this does not mean at all that depression appears due to a lack of serotonin.
In clinical trials, the effect of takingantidepressants also differ little from the effect of placebo. Also, antidepressants do not seem to treat depression more than to dull emotions.
In one study related tostudying the difference between the level of serotonin and its breakdown products in people with and without depression, it turned out that in fact there are no differences between these subjects at all.
Another study has shown that serotonin activity in people with depression is either the same as in healthy people or even higher.
With a decrease in the level of serotonin in volunteers by artificial means, depression did not occur in many people.
Many antidepressants now work specificallyon serotonin, there are also antidepressants that affect the level of norepinephrine. At the same time, scientists agree that serotonin, and not norepinephrine, plays an important role in depression. In addition, if antidepressants really just numb emotions or act like a placebo, then it is not clear whether they do more harm or good. Therefore, it cannot be said that taking antidepressants is completely safe, the author of the article concludes.
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