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Altered Moment · Feb 27, 2014, 03:07 PM

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Michanne "“But nobody has ever demonstrated that a shortage of serotonin was the cause of depression or any other illness,” Shorter says."

I equate this to consuming lots of sugar. You get addicted and there is a subtle high but there is certainly no shortage.

I don't think I buy that.

What causes depression? - Harvard Health Publications

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Researchers are exploring possible links between sluggish production of new neurons in the hippocampus and low moods. An interesting fact about antidepressants supports this theory. These medications immediately boost the concentration of chemical messengers in the brain (neurotransmitters). Yet people typically don’t begin to feel better for several weeks or longer. Experts have long wondered why, if depression were primarily the result of low levels of neurotransmitters, people don’t feel better as soon as levels of neurotransmitters increase.

The answer may be that mood only improves as nerves grow and form new connections, a process that takes weeks. In fact, animal studies have shown that antidepressants do spur the growth and enhanced branching of nerve cells in the hippocampus. So, the theory holds, the real value of these medications may be in generating new neurons (a process called neurogenesis), strengthening nerve cell connections, and improving the exchange of information between nerve circuits. If that’s the case, medications could be developed that specifically promote neurogenesis, with the hope that patients would see quicker results than with current treatments.

In the meantime, animal research lends credence to the theory. A 2003 study in Science found that when neurogenesis is blocked in mice, the benefits of antidepressants seem to disappear. After receiving antidepressants for four weeks, mice exhibited less anxious or depressed behavior (they became bolder about retrieving food from a brightly lit place). These treated mice had 60% more dividing cells in the hippocampus. However, when researchers impeded new cell growth by dousing the hippocampus with x-rays, drug treatment failed to reduce anxious behavior in the mice. While more work needs to be done to determine the role of neurogenesis in depression, this is an interesting avenue of research.

Mental illness: is 'chemical imbalance' theory a myth? | Toronto Star

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But, he says, most top researchers are still certain that neurotransmitters play a significant role in several psychiatric maladies.
“I think you’d find thousands of neuroscientists who’d think that at one level there is a role for several — maybe not all that many — but certainly several of the major neurotransmitters.”
With schizophrenia, for example, there is no question that one of the five neural receptors that welcome dopamine into brain cells is a key player in the disease, Phillips says.
And drugs that block that “D2” receptor work wonders in calming psychotic symptoms in schizophrenic patients, whether a dopamine imbalance is the sole cause of the disease or not, he says.
Even Phillips, however, concedes that those touting the neurotransmitter theory overplayed their hand in depression research.

There is so little known. The medical arts have always been trial and error. I think neurotransmitters definitely play a role from everything I have read. We are guinea pigs.