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StevieTNZ
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- A major international study has found no clear evidence that low serotonin levels are responsible for depression.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/07/22/no-clear-link-between-low-serotonin-and-depression-study/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
The idea that depression is the result of abnormalities in brain chemicals, particularly serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT), has been influential for decades, and provides an important justification for the use of antidepressants. A link between lowered serotonin and depression was first suggested in the 1960s [1], and widely publicised from the 1990s with the advent of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants [2,3,4]. Although it has been questioned more recently [5, 6], the serotonin theory of depression remains influential, with principal English language textbooks still giving it qualified support [7, 8], leading researchers endorsing it [9,10,11], and much empirical research based on it [11,12,13,14]. Surveys suggest that 80% or more of the general public now believe it is established that depression is caused by a ‘chemical imbalance’ [15, 16]. Many general practitioners also subscribe to this view [17] and popular websites commonly cite the theory [18].