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Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

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Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#61

Post by CamelRocketFish »

throwaway2331 wrote: post #45
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…

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?

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#62

Post by [deleted] »

foverzar wrote: post #39
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

[deleted]

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#63

Post by Terry_Roll »

metadat wrote: post #16
Terry_Roll wrote: post #2

As does Histamine.

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.

It increases IQ, histidine, a precursor for histamine, doubled the IQ of people with downs syndrome in an experiment over several months, but histamine also increases aggression which probably explains why you dont see many aggressive people with Down Syndrome.

Aged food & drink is higher in histamine. Red wine more than white wine. Dark spirits more than clear spirits. Red meat more than white meat. It can cause spontaneous erections, 60mg of histamine can be used for erectile dysfunction. Histamine can increase blood saturation levels and help reduce the symptoms of COPD and other respiratory problems.

If you consumed alot of histadine, like several heaped table spoons with meals throughout the day, depending on your age and health you will notice some or all of the above. Its one of the fastest amino acids into muscle, its untouched by the liver.

I dont know why you are taking anti-histamines, histamine helps the white immune cells move through tissue, it causes inflammation, there is also a histamine feedback loop in the brain which affects sleep patterns, which is why anti-histamines can help people get to sleep, but lots of histamine can improve sleep conversely.

Loads of studies exist that can be found on Google Scholar, but multiple chemicals affect peoples personality, and their health.

If you want to read up on this, also look at the pathways and other chemicals which work with histidine (or any other amino acid) for that matter.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#64

Post by andrei_says_ »

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.

How does the dissasociative ketamine help?

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#65

Post by Ozzie_osman »

It's crazy how our brains and bodies are just a cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters. Change that mix, and it can change the very nature of who we think we are. Things that you might associate with your very identity, like optimism/pessimism, ability to focus, moral judgment, how collaborative or generous you are, aggressiveness, all can be influenced by hormones or neurotransmitters.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#66

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

foverzar wrote: post #39
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I'm not exactly an expert on psychiatry, but I've looked around quite a bit and have yet to see any method claiming to treat "the root cause" whose evidence base isn't even sketchier than that of SSRIs.

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#67

Post by danrochman »

kbenson wrote: post #36
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 an…

This is how some people feel all the time. I wonder if I was exposed to Mucinex in the womb…

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#68

Post by nick__m »

cplusplusfellow wrote: post #18
Terry_Roll wrote: post #2

As does Histamine.

Can you expound upon this? As someone with severe allergies I tend to take quite a bit of antihistamines.

An old antihistamine¹ was used as the blueprint for development of the first commercialized SSRI. Similar first generation antihistamines² also have a significant effect on SERT (serotonin transporter).

Reciprocly, the weight gain induced by certain SSRI is tought to be caused by an antihistaminic effect³.

It would not be surprising if other antihistamines (at least those that cross the BBB) had similar effects because antihistamines are frequently promiscuous (i.e. they have significant affinities with a lots of targets other than the one that make a drug effective) but I would be surprised if histamine, or its inhibition, was directly (with the exclusion of the miserable feeling that comes with allergies) implicated in moods changes.

1- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompheniramine

2- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorphenamine

3- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27593622

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#69

Post by rjh29 »

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…

Anecdotally I had the same response. I found they helped anxiety a lot, but did not help depression as I just felt even more disconnected and apathetic to things.

What helped me was switching away from a first-line SSRI and onto something a bit more niche: Mirtazapine. It's definitely worth trying a variety of SSRIs because everyone is different and it's really common for the first one or two that you try to not work well.

I agree that ultimately therapy/coping strategies are the right cure, medicine is a way to bootstrap otherwise incapable people into persuing exercise, therapy, social stuff etc. If you can achieve that without the help of meds, more power to you!

Re: Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior

#70

Post by Enginerrrd »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #59
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…

I would like to recommend a lecture by George Lakoff - The Neuroscience of Language and Thought https://youtu.be/JJP-rkilz40 Within the first 10 minutes he speaks of the fact that rational thought as we see it simply does not exist. All our choices are based on the ability to distinguish a preference and that ability is based on emotion. It would only make sense that medication impairing our emotions would also impai…

Not only that, but if meditation has taught me anything, it's that your "conscious rational thought" isn't really conscious. ...like, basically at all. The decisions are getting made unconsciously and then kicked up to your conscious attention, already made.
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