When I first saw the article pop up in my feed, I could hardly believe my eyes that a mainstream mouthpiece of Big Pharma will publish such frank admission of psychiatry’s utter failure – i.e. the claims in regards to serotonin (5-HT), its role in mental illness, and even its social “label”. In just two pages, the article openly admits that 5-HT are actually very high (instead of low) in clinically depressed people, that serotonin is NOT the “happy hormone” as media has brainwashing people for 50+ years, and that serotonin’s main role is actually metabolic and such that results in lower energy (metabolism) in order to induce an “avoidant” behavior. So, depression is a metabolic/bioenergetic disease and serotonin is its major direct cause. In addition, the article even suggests (inadvertently) a possible mechanism through which SSRI drugs drastically increase risk of suicide. Namely, SSRI drugs initially raise extracellular 5-HT levels even higher than they already were in clinically depressed people. After 2-3 weeks, the article claims that regulatory mechanisms kick in due to abnormally high 5-HT levels induced by the depression and the SSRI drugs, and the body starts to produce less serotonin as a compensatory mechanism. Then serotonin levels drop, and the person’s depression is relieved. The first portion of this statement is spot-on, but I disagree with the second portion. Extracellular 5-HT levels of depressed people treated with an SSRI drug do NOT drop after a few weeks. So, for the first few weeks after starting an SSRI and the patient has a still-intact higher cognitive function (i.e. empathy) the extremely high 5-HT levels raise the risk of only suicide. After the patient gets “numbed” by the SSRI, my guess is the propensity/risk for homicide/violence rises as well since the patient is no longer capable of empathy or caring about others (or self) – i.e. the patient has been (chemically) lobotomized. This (chemical) lobotomy is mis-diagnosed as “remission” from the depressive state, but psychiatrists know quite well it is NOT a return to the former healthy state and they (wrongly) advise their patients to stay on the drug for life due to fear of a relapse. Speaking of depression, another bombshell admission by the article is that most cases of depression (even severe ones) resolve on their own within 6-9 months!! So much for the “lifesaving” importance of the mental health industry. I wonder how many fewer people would have died from suicide/violence due to mental health issues if the mental health industry had NOT been around…
“…So how does CBT do as well as medication in the short term (and better in the long term) if it’s not directly treating the underlying “chemical imbalance”—the low serotonin that causes depression? As it turns out, low serotonin in depression is a myth. But the real link between serotonin and depression is even more surprising. “The evidence is pretty clear,” said Hollon. “There’s not a deficit—there’s an excess.” He described findings from a study that measured metabolite levels from blood in the brain, which indicate how much serotonin the brain is using. Results from this study revealed that serotonin levels were elevated among those with clinical depression, and returned to normal levels following medication treatment. Other studies (e.g., Gjerris et al., 1987, and Sulllivan et al., 2006) using different methods have found similar results. These findings sound paradoxical, given that depression medications tend to increase the amount of serotonin in the synapse, at least initially. But Hollon explained that “within a week to ten days, you increase the amount of serotonin so high that the regulatory mechanisms push back.” As a result, serotonin levels fall. “It’s like holding a match up to a thermostat to turn the furnace down,” said Hollon. “You’re tricking the system into kicking back in and regulating” serotonin levels.”
“…High levels of serotonin in depression make more sense when we realize that serotonin is not the “feel-good neurotransmitter,” as has often been claimed based on its involvement in depression; that role is played by the endogenous opioids (as the name suggests) like endorphins. According to Hollon, “Serotonin is the energy transfer regulator. It moves you back and forth between approach and avoidance behavior.”
“…There is a common belief that depression sticks around indefinitely unless it’s treated; however, research shows that most episodes are time-limited even without treatment. “Nobody knows for sure [how long an average episode lasts],” Hollon said, “but it looks like it’s about six to nine months.” This spontaneous remission may be a result of the rumination processes described above, to the extent that they lead to effective solutions. Nevertheless, Hollon points out that helping depression to resolve in “three to six weeks” through an effective treatment like CBT “is much better than six to nine months.”
