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Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

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Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#101
post #86

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I hear insulin is the same way. Eventually they still die, and OMG IF THEY STOP THEY DIE TOO. /sigh. please stop this, you're contributing to the stigma both in terms of mental health, and that lifesaving medication is somehow an addition.

The person you're replying to has multiple sources to defend their comment. It's not a big secret that antidepressants are overprescribed and extremely easy to obtain. Sure, they have their uses and may be life saving to some, but their use should also be questioned from time to time.

No post body was provided.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the dissasociative ketamine help?

Ketamine (as its S-isomer) is approved by the FDA for treatment-resistant depression. Note that while the evidence for Ketamine's antidepressant effect is actually strong, that does not mean you should get into the habit of snorting a gram of special K a day. Ketamine abuse is known to cause serious, practical damage to the GI tract, the urinary system, the liver, and the brain.

Although a ketamine treatment plan for depression requires subanesthetic doses once a week at first, and then once every two weeks. It's also habit forming enough that it's difficult to not overdo it due to its effects on dopamine. It has some definite utility, but it's the kind of medication that is hard to use alone

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#103

(Just my personal, anecdotal experience - I have strong family history of depression and anxiety on both sides of my family and it's something that's afflicted me since I was a teenager.) I will be extremely hesitant to take antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications ever again after my last experience with them. For me, the medications helped by tempering all of my feelings - I no longer felt sad or anxious, inste…

For me, serotonin blockers just made me asexual. It was a flat organ even when activated. It also defeats the purpose of taking antidepressants to enter a more positive spiral with girls… But it is also very frightening as a man.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#104

(Just my personal, anecdotal experience - I have strong family history of depression and anxiety on both sides of my family and it's something that's afflicted me since I was a teenager.) I will be extremely hesitant to take antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications ever again after my last experience with them. For me, the medications helped by tempering all of my feelings - I no longer felt sad or anxious, inste…

That truthfully sounds like symptoms of hypomania, which can be exacerbated by antidepressants. If that's the case, then antidepressants alone were not a good choice for you, because they are meant to only treat depression.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#105
post #5

(Just my personal, anecdotal experience - I have strong family history of depression and anxiety on both sides of my family and it's something that's afflicted me since I was a teenager.) I will be extremely hesitant to take antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications ever again after my last experience with them. For me, the medications helped by tempering all of my feelings - I no longer felt sad or anxious, inste…

Similar thoughts. I think SSRI's are the wrong direction. Acute drug experiences with therapy and behavioral modification are the future. do some molly and ketamine and have a good talk.

Lot's of cases of depression actually start with inflammation in the gut or in the brain, or other gut related diseases. Diet and lifestyle is a safer and better treatment.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The assortment of medication available for depression is laughable. Even for other neurological disorders, they're so unselective and "broad spectrum," affecting numerous other systems, that it turns into an absurdity: how are we this far behind? Wasn't modern medicine supposed to equal better living? It's like zero thought has been put into quality of life by practitioners, so long as their metrics are met E.g. "x,…

What are these better off label substances?

Hormones:

Most people's androgen:estrogen balance (and levels) are absolutely off kilter, if they live a modern life (no exercise/only exercise is the gym, lack of sunlight, sitting down all day, living in a city, braindead birth control protocols with only estrogens, etc.).

Tuning that would be the most beneficial. And it would get to the root of the problem viz. fixing a mismatched upregulation/downregulate of neurotransmitter receptors (f.e. increasing sensitivity of GABA receptors, decreasing sensitivity of noradrenaline receptors, and so on) -- instead of just a simple and stupid "hur dur lets flood the synaptic cleft with serotonin/dopamine/catecholamines."

Barring that, there exist others that do not disrupt one's natural HPTA, and are more "targeted" towards neurons, rather than the whole body.

Peptides:

There are an assortment of peptides, but their main uses are specifically in gene expression/and cell signal tuning. They're hit or miss. A lot of woo-woo shit going on, and many people hype them up as a cure-all (because there's money to be made); when that's taken into account (and the lack of extensive research), you'll find an assortment of chemicals to play around with.

Russian synthetic adaptogens:

These are their own category of "adaptogens" popular in the Russian medical community (and seeing Western adoption). E.g. semax, bromantane, selank etc. They act as hormones/signaling molecules by changing the expressions of genes (leading to downstream changes of natural peptide levels, behavior of psychological/catecholamine systems, and so on).

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All of these, in my opinion and experience, are leagues better than the garbage that is peddled by the U.S's medical community -- because this actually changes shit on the genomic level, rather than fucking with the physical processes outright (ex. imagine the difference between cloud seeding to get more rainfall vs. diverting rivers, to fill aquifers. One of these is much more sustainable and has less side-effects).

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#107
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience was the opposite. In fact, after taking medication to fix it I later stopped because of this naturalistic fallacy. I knew it was bunting some of my emotions and I figured whatever the drugs are doing I can do with lifestyle changes. 10 years later, a daily habit of exercise and cold showers, a variety of daily natural supplements like turmeric and magnesium, and a career later.. I was no different. I'd…

> My theory is this was because of some adverse childhood events I experienced, that seemed to change something in me. Have you considered some sort of regression therapy such as hypnotherapy or if more adventurous, plant medicine? I sat next to a pretty senior FBI guy on a domestic US flight once. He was a hypnotherapist who claimed that in almost all cases they were able to use hypnosis to get information about wha…

>He was a hypnotherapist who claimed that in almost all cases they were able to use hypnosis to get information about what happened even if the conscious person was completely unable to recall any details.

There's no guarantee that the information they received was true. I imagine hypnosis is in the same category as lie detectors with respect to its...interpretability.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#108
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s great! Bupropion caused a psychotic episode for me maybe ten years ago. Most terrifying day of my life, when the razor blades were calling out to me telling me to cut myself. To be clear, I’ve never had anything like that happen before or since. My daughter spent 9 months in the NICU and got genetic testing for various drugs, with 1 being the baseline expected (I’m going off memory here) and 9 or 10 being “wtf…

Wow, sorry. Bupropion is an SNRI, not SSRI. SSRIs are 'dangerous' IMHO, except for the special cases mention here (suicide ideation, extreme non-functioning). I would have hoped clinicians would start at the lowest possible dose, and titrate up. I've certainly heard of the "you need about xx mg, use this dose" first doses, tho. To me, this is Yet Another reason one should never receive medical advice alone, especiall…

It's an NDRI, not an SNRI.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#109
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s great! Bupropion caused a psychotic episode for me maybe ten years ago. Most terrifying day of my life, when the razor blades were calling out to me telling me to cut myself. To be clear, I’ve never had anything like that happen before or since. My daughter spent 9 months in the NICU and got genetic testing for various drugs, with 1 being the baseline expected (I’m going off memory here) and 9 or 10 being “wtf…

> My daughter spent 9 months in the NICU and got genetic testing for various drugs, with 1 being the baseline expected (I’m going off memory here) and 9 or 10 being “wtf this is super weird”. She got a 9 for bupropion. I've never heard of that. Why would they be testing an infant for their reaction to an antidepressant drug? Just curious.

The genetic tests use genotypes to make statistical inferences about efficacy and metabolism for certain drugs. Wellbutrin is a common medicine, and the testing company probably had it as part of their panel.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you ever tried a DSRI but it could be your serotonin levels are fine but your dopamine levels are out of whack. SSRIs are just one class of drug. Speaking from a history of anxiety and depression, the wrong drugs were not helpful, but the right drugs opened up a whole new version of self. In my case, that was buproprion.

Do these work for panic attacks ? I think anxiety and depression are related. I was prescribed SSRI for anxiety.

Mirtazapine can help with depression, anxiety and panic, and it isn't an SSRI. There are also newer drugs that are marketed as SMS drugs instead of SSRIs, like vilazodone and vortioxetine. Buspirone binds to 5HT1A directly, instead of inhibiting the serotonin transporter like other drugs.

Wellbutrin and NDRIs typically aren't that great for anxiety, but they can help.

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