There seems to be an increasing number of non-academic articles, essays and books that are expressing the idea that the Serotonin hypothesis of depression is flawed. It seems like the drug industry just picked up this idea in the 70s and has been running with it (to the bank) ever since Anecdotally, I have come to believe that SSRIs have a temporary mood-altering effect, possibly combined with a placebo effect that w…
Calling for a new approach to depression
151–155 of 155 posts
Re: Calling for a new approach to depression
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
YES to magnesium & vitamin D... they must be taken together and work wonders.
I HATE people who put IANAL and other acronym disclaimers everywhere, but I just feel these type of posts can negatively influence people. I am glad magnesium and vitamin D worked for you, but some people may need prescription medications from a psychiatrist.
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Re: Calling for a new approach to depression
#153Suggest alternate title: Many people are depressed because they lack control over their work.
Yes the most important part in this article to me was how a group was able to alleviate the stress of their working lives by forming a co-operative together with no hierarchical power relationships, thus controlling their own workplace.
Re: Calling for a new approach to depression
#154Nevertheless, all the major emotions/moods one can feel: sadness, joy, laziness, vigour, fear, enthusiasm, anger, limerence etc are almost nothing but chemical conditions. If you feel panic or are angry at somebody - that doesn't necessarily mean you are in danger or that somebody is an asshole - that means you have elevated level of norepinephrine and/or low serotonin and/or something like that. Feeling lazy doesn't mean you have fallen to the sin of sloth but that you have low levels of thyroxine and/or dopamine and/or norepinephrine and/or serotonin and/or something else. That's a huge problem the majority of people don't understand this, just keeping this in mind makes the life a lot easier for you, your family and everybody around. Also it usually is enough to take something as natural, cheap and harmless as L-tryptophan (an essential amino-acid, the precursor to 5-HTP and serotonin, easily available as an over-the-counter supplement and found in many foods naturally) to fix the problem, SSRIs and benzodiazepines are not necessary in every case.
Re: Calling for a new approach to depression
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like the more I learn about psychiatry, the less faith I have in psychiatrists. It is astounding what we don't know, and how wrong we've been in the past. (B.S. in Biology and Psychology, studied neuroscience in school)
There's a bit of a paradox at play. We know that placebo effect is incredibly important in the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. We know that there are still huge areas of uncertainty and ignorance and that our best treatments just aren't very effective. If we publicly admitted those facts, then our already not-very-effective treatments would get less effective, because the placebo effect would…
I may be wrong, but I thought the placebo effect didn't diminish if the subject was aware of, or even anticipating, the effect?