Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

I've spent lots of time studying neurotransmitters and their relationship with various mental illnesses and amino acids. It has been my understanding for a while now (from the book 'The Mood Cure' by Julia Ross) that too much of a neurotransmitter can have the same symptoms as too little. That book also seemed to indicate that dopamine and serotonin have an antagonistic relationship with each other, so too little (or too much?) serotonin can cause an excess of dopamine, which can lead to all kinds of anxiety, including potentially social phobia.

I've been considering buying books on endocrinology/neurobiology to further study these phenomena, if anyone with more knowledge/experience could enlighten me on this I'd really appreciate it.

I've had a similar experience. Taking SSRIs (Sertraline, initially 50mg/daily, now 100mg/daily) for social phobia and depression. They definitely helped increase my baseline for positive feelings (i.e., I don't spend as many days curled up in bed feeling hopeless), but it's true that it brings down other aspects of life. Decreased sexual function, loss of emotion in other areas, stuff like that.

I wonder whether serotonin is really the magic trick to increasing moods or whether it's just a stop-gap solution that works well enough for most.

dont mess with hardware if you can fix it in software

that study is an example of a horribe broad brush approach that gets pursued because its a low hanging fruit. physcial quantities are easier to objectively measure and present and subsequently selling tanglible pills is more marketable and controllable

you can influence your neurotransmitters, endocrine system, and behaviour with thoughts and habits, for example: fantasize porn, your passion projects, see what people see when they see you, first person view in a roller coaster, check out youtube climbing scaling radio towers and skyscrapers, etc.. duh just about any engaging movie or book

manage your attention wisely

social phobia/anxiety arises from habitual limited perspective misinterpreting the environment. in some situations fear is appropriate healthy and helpful, the key solution is to notice the difference objectively

see yourself, your surroundings, other people, from an external reference/point of view, see through from outside the building, from the roof, maybe perched on top of a lamp post, birds eye view, whatever, use your illusion

One thing that has become increasingly clear is that the simplistic "too much x" or "too little y" theory of Mental illness as a "neurotransmitter imbalance" is flawed to the point of uselessness. Neurotransmitters certainly do mediate synapse growth and activity, but the brain is a complex adaptive organ, and it will adapt to modifications to neurotransmitter levels. This is why antidepressnts become less effective and require stronger doses, and why their sudden withdrawal leads to the massive exacerbation of symptoms. The problem isn't simply that patients "go off their meds". The problem is that meds stop working, and withdrawing them leaves the poor patient with a brain that was adapted to their presence suddenly unable to cope. The meds make the organic problem worse, but it dorsn't show until you withdraw them. We're still basically at the witch-doctor stage of "try it and see" with most if these drugs, with nothing like a proper pathology model or functional description of how the meds work to even do proper long-term studies.

excitement and anxiety are the same state just differing perception.

it is more about imagined outcomes

this is exciting and will work out well I feel safe

this is exciting and i may come to emotional or physical harm

the excitement is the same

so long as you don't fear fear itself, that is a feedback loop.