Live data from Hacker News

“No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

bmj.com

31–40 of 625 posts

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#31

I have a completely unscientific, subjective theory that some significant portion of depression in the population as a whole is caused by the economic circumstances that some people live in. Things like being trapped in a dead end job to keep healthcare benefits in the USA, living in a never ending treadmill of debt.

I'm puzzled by those who disagree with this statement. How is it surprising that depressing circumstances would lead to depression?

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#32

I have a completely unscientific, subjective theory that some significant portion of depression in the population as a whole is caused by the economic circumstances that some people live in. Things like being trapped in a dead end job to keep healthcare benefits in the USA, living in a never ending treadmill of debt.

I know plenty of depressed rich people. I understand your theory but spend a week in the Hampton’s and you’ll see some real sad souls.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#33

I have a completely unscientific, subjective theory that some significant portion of depression in the population as a whole is caused by the economic circumstances that some people live in. Things like being trapped in a dead end job to keep healthcare benefits in the USA, living in a never ending treadmill of debt.

We have it way better than almost any period in history and are profoundly unhappy.

Also, we always like to think we will be happy “once I have…X” and then we get X and say well actually what I need is Y.

Most unhappiness is driven by vanity and desire (a bargain you make with yourself where you chose to be unhappy until you get something) to be better than our peers.

Until you can be content with nothing you wont be content even with everything.

If people can be happy in concentration camps we can be happy in dead end office jobs. They cant stop us from being happy.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#34

I have a completely unscientific, subjective theory that some significant portion of depression in the population as a whole is caused by the economic circumstances that some people live in. Things like being trapped in a dead end job to keep healthcare benefits in the USA, living in a never ending treadmill of debt.

I'm puzzled by those who disagree with this statement. How is it surprising that depressing circumstances would lead to depression?

Major depressive disorder isn't the same thing as feeling sad about your job.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#35

I have a completely unscientific, subjective theory that some significant portion of depression in the population as a whole is caused by the economic circumstances that some people live in. Things like being trapped in a dead end job to keep healthcare benefits in the USA, living in a never ending treadmill of debt.

I'm puzzled by those who disagree with this statement. How is it surprising that depressing circumstances would lead to depression?

I would recommend reading some history books before saying these are depressing circumstances.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#36

SSRIs raise extra-synaptic serotonin levels within the first hour of taking them. However, their efficacy against depression takes weeks or even months to manifest. We've known this for decades, and as a result the "chemical imbalance" theory of depression hasn't been a real contender in depression research for a long, long time. The key thing to understand is that serotonin levels don't have to be low for SSRIs to i…

Hence the first S and the I in SSRI. A filter in certain areas increases other areas. Doesn't change overall values.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#37
There are many people who are anti-psychiatry who would probably still benefit immensely from treatment. My worry is that such people will look at this and say: "see look, the psychiatrists got it wrong. I was right to question treatment all along; Anti-depressants don't work." But the message here isn't that SSRIs don't work for depression. It's that depression is a complex illness and can't be reduced to a single chemical deficiency.

Anti-depressants mechanism of action is more complex than 'corrects a chemical deficiency.' I hope such people considering treatment know that while theories may change as we learn more: medications still have to be evaluated against real-world results. So the effectiveness of a drug remains the same.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#38

One of the most interesting things I heard recently that really hit me like a bolt of lightning… Depression is a disease of despair, and all these treatments are really just treating the symptoms. In other words, people experience despair because of some underlying situation - examples: death of child, lonely, broken home. “Normal” things, and we try to treat it with pharmaceuticals. It would be like treating depress…

Bolts of lightning can be factually wrong, it sounds.

Re: “No convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels

#39

There are probably a million different causes for depression and im convinced for all but the most extreme cases that usage of anti depressants is a mistake. I think viewing depression as a disease instead of a symptom is a mistake. So many people eat food completely devoid of nutrition, stay indoors all day, have erratic sleep schedules, drink absurd amounts of alcohol and smoke weed all day. Why are we giving these…

Completely agree with you, although I think that "going outside and taking a multivitamin" is an inadequate substitute for "live inside a prosperous, functional human-shaped society".
Post reply on HN