For years we've been told that most cases of depression are caused by a "chemical imbalance" in the brain, and we've most of us accepted that assertion without question, even if it did seem a little too simple.
Now, however, scientists are starting to officially question those claims:
Low serotonin levels do not cause depression, according to a major review.
Today's landmark findings call into question society's ever-growing reliance on antidepressants like Prozac.
Millions of patients take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, designed to boost levels of the 'feel-good' chemical.
University College London researchers argue, however, that there's 'no convincing evidence' that depression is caused by an imbalance of the chemical.
Here is what the scientists themselves claim:
The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations.
If you think about it, it's not all that surprising that there are questions being raised about this.
So many doctors have always hewed to the "chemical imbalance" model, but you notice that there's never any real effort to, say, actually test the levels of imbalance in a subject's brain before prescribing them antidepressants (and these drugs are readily prescribed – so much so that a near majority of you reading this have likely been on them at some point).
Instead, there are scores of people on sites like Surviving Antidepressants that talk about the horrible neurological symptoms they are experiencing as they slowly try to come off the drugs – symptoms that often take years to heal. And when patients experience these horrible symptoms caused by stopping, doctors mostly tell them it's because of their imbalances, not the crippling effects of the drugs or withdrawal.
Speaking of discontinuation, however, the researchers themselves do prudently caution:
If you're taking antidepressants, it's very important you don't stop doing so without speaking to your doctor first. But people need all this information to make informed decisions about whether or not to take these drugs.
Tom Cruise might be crazy, but he seems a little less crazy every day!
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