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

Post by Mo3 » Wed, Jul 20, 2022, 8:22 AM UTC

coffee_beqn wrote: post #287

ratww wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a happy customer of that one. It worked great for me even with a low dosage and didn’t otherwise negatively impact anything else.

How long were you on and what made you go off it? Four months in I’m feeling better now but I don’t think I want to take it forever

Post by tomsto » Wed, Jul 20, 2022, 8:29 AM UTC

philliphaydon wrote: post #314

mjfl wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We know that a group of people who suffer from depression have lower serotonin levels when compared to someone who is considered... not depressed. I thought the whole point of the article was that there is no solid evidence of a relationship between serotonin levels and depression?

The article seems to say that lower levels of serotonin is not the /cause/ of the depression. But it doesn't change the fact that most studies seem to conclude that one of the things we can determine in people who suffer from depression is that they have lower levels of serotonin, and in some of those cases SSRIs help. Not all forms of depression are caused by serotonin, and anti-depressants may not always be the sol…

Post by ChildOfChaos » Wed, Jul 20, 2022, 8:35 AM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #320

eyelidlessness wrote: post #268

There’s no convincing evidence that discussing medical aspects of mental health is productive on HN. Currently my comment that I’m alive has been downvoted at least half a dozen times because I had the temerity to still be alive, be glad to say so, be grateful for my psychiatric care, and reject that any of that is “suspect”. This isn’t the place to discuss psychiatry. Talk to your doctor.

HN is only really great on technical issues. Everything else suffers from Engineer's Disease, where a person who has read half a dozen articles suddenly imagines they know a complete discipline. This thread is a prime example of "my googling trumps your life experience". That said, in countries where pharmaceutical manufacturers are allowed to market prescription medicines, and one was recently convicted for pushing…

Post by Thorrez » Wed, Jul 20, 2022, 8:39 AM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #179

JamesBarney wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that a terrible life can cause depression is not the limb he's going out on. It's the idea that somehow depression is caused by being way more exploited than our ancestors in the 1700's who were working on someone else's farms and factories as children is the limb he's going out on.

OK, well, that's an easy rhetorical maneuver but one that can be met with equally facile ripostes, such as "how do you determine that people weren't just as if not more depressed in the 18th Century when the concept was less familiar?" or "perhaps having the gulf between themselves and the wealthy rubbed in their faces every day is what causes the distress, since there can be little sense of exploitation if one is su…

Post by Thorrez » Wed, Jul 20, 2022, 8:44 AM UTC

smolder wrote: post #199

JamesBarney wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that a terrible life can cause depression is not the limb he's going out on. It's the idea that somehow depression is caused by being way more exploited than our ancestors in the 1700's who were working on someone else's farms and factories as children is the limb he's going out on.

Fair criticism as usual and maybe I should have been more specific, but I didn't say anything about the 1700s or prior specifically. If we talk about trends in the lifespan of people alive today (which represents a huge number of people) the picture is much different.