There's a huge new study out apparently proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the depression/serotonin theory is bunk. SSRI's (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) have been all the rage since Prozac came on the market in the mid 1980s and Peter Kramer’s bestseller “Talking to Prozac” helped the drug become a giant hit.
I am not able to engage in a detailed scientific discussion. I am not a psychiatrist. But I have done my fair share of reading on the subject and I have tried a fair number of SSRI's myself. If you have never suffered from depression, whatever your opinion is, it's academic and irrelevant. While I do not doubt the veracity and scientific rigor of the latest study, I also do not doubt my “lived experience”, to use voguish lingo.
In 2006 I was in bad shape. I had lost 30 pounds, I could not eat almost at all. My sleep consisted of 3 or 4 fitful hours filled with nightmares. While I couldn't focus on work, I couldn't use my free time to relax either. The suffering was unrelenting and unbearable. I finally got to a point where something HAD to be done. I was ready to get committed. It was at that point that my doctor prescribed a very small dose - 5mg - of an SSRI antidepressant called Lexapro.
Within about a week the clouds started lifting. Within a month my obsessive ruminating stopped almost completely. My mood improved, my anxiety ebbed. I started enjoying food again, even an occasional glass of wine. My productivity shot up. I was able to resume a fairly heavy performing schedule and in 2011 I got my US work visa and moved from Toronto to Orlando, FL, where I had a very successful music career until the fateful events of 2020 and my semi-retirement from music.
The effect of the drug waned with time and I stopped taking it in 2014. While a small part of the benefit may have been psychological, there is NO placebo whose effect lasts eight years.
SSRI's have some nasty side effects, loss of libido being chief among them. Some people suffer nightmares (mine disappeared), some have chronic headaches and nausea. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind - and the minds of my family members who saw me suffer and witnessed my improvement - that the medication was a godsend.
Perhaps there is some as yet undiscovered chemical component in these medicaments that alleviates depression and it's not its serotonergic activity. Like I said, I'm not a scientist. But I know what I know, and I'm old enough to know not to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Final word: no one who hasn't suffered depression can possibly understand the pain. I am dismayed at the lack of sensitivity on the part of many commentators in the media who breezily pronounce on the issue. We may not know why, and our original theories may have been erroneous but the fact is that millions of sufferers are helped by these meds. I was one
Some of the most creative minds in history have suffered from some form of depression. Van Gogh comes to mind. I’m glad you’re better George.
Excellent that your health improved. I know many who have had the same results, and for researchers to condemn SSRI'si out right is almost criminal. Thank you for much for posting!~~