No Link Between Serotonin and Depression: What Does That Mean for Antidepressants?

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In this 30-minute podcast, Peter Simons reports on the latest scientific articles in psychiatry. The goal is to provide more detail than is usually found in conventional research news and to help listeners understand how to interpret the findings.

This month, Peter covers in detail a new systematic review that debunks the widely popularized myth of low serotonin in depression, the “chemical imbalance theory.” He then follows up with a study that found less than 25% of people respond to depression treatment in real life, and a study that found that screening for depression in adolescents is ineffective.

Articles covered in this podcast include:

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Peter,

    We’ll have to wait and see – what it means!

    “..Less than 25% of people respond to Antidepressants..”
    is something we already know – and is not very optimistic.

    It might be possible also, that quite a few people get very little benefit – but are incapable of stopping.

    And …What’s to be done about the Fact, that the rate of Mental Health Disability has increased quite a bit since Antidepressants came into common use..?

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  2. I strongly believe that NOW is the moment in time to bear down on the treacherous ideology of Pharma and the APA. I trust Mr. Whitaker, et al to continue his impressive efforts.

    In addition, pressuring the AMA’ s ‘only-as-convenient’, slightly nervous, slightly distancing, often awkward embrace of psychiatry is necessary. They don’t have to divorce, they have to pressure psychiatry to reform…finally.
    Saying the quiet part out loud.

    As a scarred, 11 year ‘veteran’ of the psychiatric ‘conflict’, I’ve been present at too many cringe-y Primary (or specialist) appointments and (of course) ER’s with doctors who dance around or flatly disparage the results of my psych ‘care’ and the clear, quantifiable damages that have resulted.

    They have looked around, lowered their voices, leaned in and whispered criticism of them & encouragement & sympathy to me.

    They have called me at home after ER discharge, to help me get better services.

    They have made eye-rolling, sour faces when I report my reasons for the akathisia, bradycardia, Parkinson symptoms, stutter, drooling, ocular nerve damages, alarming liver & kidney labs, severe thyroid fluctuations, enormous hair loss, gulping for air, stress eczema, 90 lb weight-gain, panic attacks, and the ever-present stagger.

    Oh, and the seizures.

    NOW is the time to Stand & Deliver…ON THE RECORD…for the next client.

    Moving the needle with the AMA will take some doing but the financial & credibility blowback could erode faster now….& sooner-rather-than-later accelerate their ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment…I pray.

    Their acceptance of this segment of their ‘membership’ requires accountability…finally.
    Get on board NOW.

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    • Tell me more….PLEASE! And thank you! I have at least 5 people in my life that I love whose lives have deteriorated exponentially ( one dead) from over prescribed, casually prescribed, thoughtlessly prescribed, wrecklessly prescribed……anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics….. suffering ALL of the symptoms and side effects, not previously exhibited that you describe. Now, how to reverse the catastrophic damage. My GOD!

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  3. The lie that there’s a link between serotonin and depression is just the tip of the psychiatric iceberg. Why can’t the so-called “experts” see the link between the increase in “psychiatric disorders” and the publication of the DSM III, IV and V? Not to mention the introduction of SSRI’s and the “newer generation antipsychotics”. And don’t forget the increase in psychiatric drug-induced iatrogenic illnesses and resulting disability. But no one needs a Ph.D to connect the dots; it’s easy to see what’s been happening.

    It’s only a matter of time before enough people see what’s really going on. And at that point there may be a whole new medical specialty dedicated to dealing with the iatrogenic illnesses caused by psychiatry’s drugs. They could call themselves “iatrogenicists”.

    Psychiatrists need to remember that even in this day and age, the chickens always come home to roost.

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  4. Why can’t the so-called “experts” see the link between the increase in people being “diagnosed” with psychiatric “disorders” and the publication of the DSM III, IV, and V? The DSM just gives doctors more excuses to write prescriptions for more and more “medications”, courtesy Big Pharma. Take off their white coats and all they’re doing is drug dealing.

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  5. Serotonin’s just the neurotransmitter of the week. Antidepressants have been pushed for decades as antagonists of assorted malfunctioning neurotransmitters, which have gone in and out of fashion as their treatment uselessness was established (I do remember dopamine, the pre-serotonin villain).

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