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Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

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Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#31

Post by whatshisface »

daenz wrote: post #28

>This harm-avoidant bias after citalopram was also evident in behavior during the ultimatum game, in which subjects decide to accept or reject fair or unfair monetary offers from another player. Rejecting unfair offers enforces a fairness norm but also harms the other player financially. Enhancing serotonin made subjects less likely to reject unfair offers. So essentially a subject with enhanced serotonin was more li…

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

It's saying that serotonin doesn't make you a better person or more fair in an objective sense, it just strengthens your feelings of empathy, which makes you a better person whenever the good and your feelings about it are by chance aligned.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#32

Post by loceng »

o10449366 wrote: post #3

(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…

Have you ever researched or tried MDMA? It's "single use" vs. daily and habit/dependency forming.

MAPS.org did clinical trials, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for veterans with treatment resistant PTSD, to great success.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#33

Post by wincy »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #9
dave_sullivan wrote: post #4

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.

Same situation as you. SSRIs seemed mostly ineffective, or sometimes had crazy side effects (will never forget Effexor-induced zaps despite tapering off following the directions to the letter). Bupropion has been fantastic for me since I started and I wished I'd found it 20 years ago.

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 this is super weird”. She got a 9 for bupropion. I’m assuming she got that from her father.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#34

Post by throwaway2331 »

antics9 wrote: post #23
metadat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you able to elaborate on this? I take a lot of anti-histamines and haven't noticed any difference other than it helps me medically. But I'd like to be on the lookout so I can be my best self.

I second this. I take antihistamines from April to September. Loratadin absolutely has a negative effect on my mood. Mostly because I feel tired I believe. Switched to Ebastin and no more tiredness. However, I am starting to suspect that it also does affect my mood in some way or another. During winter I take a pill as a precautionary if I’m going to be in any dusty spaces. The day after I sometimes experience mood s…

Have you tried mast-cell stabilizers? Ketotifen is one (albeit, still an antihistamine).

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#35

Post by selectodude »

whatshisface wrote: post #29
antics9 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this. I take antihistamines from April to September. Loratadin absolutely has a negative effect on my mood. Mostly because I feel tired I believe. Switched to Ebastin and no more tiredness. However, I am starting to suspect that it also does affect my mood in some way or another. During winter I take a pill as a precautionary if I’m going to be in any dusty spaces. The day after I sometimes experience mood s…

I have found that n95 masks work wonderfully for working in dusty spaces. A dividend of the pandemic I suppose.

They sell 3M N95 masks at Home Depot for a reason :)

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#36

Post by kbenson »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12
o10449366 wrote: post #3

(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…

> There is value to medications that inhibit or regulate serotonin, and every individual's experience will be slightly different based on their genetics and the circumstances of their life. Not just slightly different. It can be extremely variable from person to person. It’s well-known in medical research and clinical practice that medications likes SSRIs range from helpful to neutral to net negatives depending on th…

> Not just slightly different. It can be extremely variable from person to person.

Not just SSRIs. I had a very bad experience with Mucinex D (or DM?) about 12 years ago, the first time I tried it. I can only imagine it was what clinical depression is like. For two days (until I stopped taking because I was so scared) I lost all interest in my life. I wasn't interested in my young children, ow my wife, or watching anything on TV I usually like, or playing a game. I was questioning my work life choices as well because nothing at work held the slightest interest. I would go home, do what was required of me, then sit in bed and stare at the wall until I went to bed.

That is, to this day, one of the scariest experiences in my life. I've since heard of one or two other people that had similar experiences with it.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#37

Post by astrange »

Jerrrry wrote: post #5
o10449366 wrote: post #3

(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.

If you don't want to mess with serotonin don't go take MDMA…

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#38

Post by astrange »

colechristensen wrote: post #10

Huh, given that something like 15% of Americans are on SSRIs, I wonder how this affects the political landscape (which seems overrun with a new kind of moralizing in the last few decades)

If anything a more likely cause is statins in older people, which are known to cause violent rage.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#39

Post by foverzar »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12
o10449366 wrote: post #3

(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…

> There is value to medications that inhibit or regulate serotonin, and every individual's experience will be slightly different based on their genetics and the circumstances of their life. Not just slightly different. It can be extremely variable from person to person. It’s well-known in medical research and clinical practice that medications likes SSRIs range from helpful to neutral to net negatives depending on th…

These medications don't really address your condition, but rather just treat symptoms.

IMO, the fear is not really about short-term negatives, but about it turning into drug abuse, without actually tackling the root cause.

Such drugs should only be used in extreme cases.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#40

Post by aantix »

o10449366 wrote: post #3

(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…

Have you tried any supplements?

SSRIs aren’t the only promising solution.

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