There’s new evidence that has found no link between serotonin levels and depression.
This evidence goes directly against what the medical fraternity has believed for decades, and throws into question the value of prescribing serotonin-boosting medicines to just about everyone who claims to be experiencing depression.
Understanding the serotonin depression link is essential to reevaluating treatment options.
Moncrieff et. al. have published their findings, stating that their studies “all showed no association between markers of serotonin activity and depression”.
So then, what is the cause of depression?
Bearing in mind that depression is inarguably something that people do experience, and yes, the effects run along a spectrum from mild feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and overwhelm to very extreme effects.
And, no doubt, antidepressant medicines do help some of those people who take them (sometimes, even just giving enough relief to help the person see what got them to that point).
But, in many, many cases, the depression that people feel is not because they have some internal flaw or failing, it’s because of external forces.
I sometimes ask my clients who say they “feel depressed” what they believe to be the reason for this.
Often, the response is that “I must have low serotonin levels”.
However, when we begin to explore what the person has experienced and is experiencing in their life, I believe many answers can be found there.
They often have a list of things on their plates that would take a toll on even the fittest and healthiest person.
Sleep deprivation, a chaotic personal life, family issues, financial worries, work demands, global turmoil etc., etc.
Down into the dark cave
When things get tough (bearing in mind that we all have different tolerance levels for external stressors), we tend to start exhibiting behaviors that can worsen our feelings/situation.
Examples of this could be things like starting to avoid people, avoiding conversations, sitting and vegetating instead of getting up and moving, and having less tolerance and compassion for ourselves and those around us.
Of course, we are more likely to start potentially destructive behaviours, and other bad habits too, like negative thinking, and I see this all the time professionally, when we are in this space we are less likely to reach out for some help.
Stress is the pathway to depression
People often experience really painful things in childhood (bearing in mind again that we all have differing levels of sensitivity), and these external events get imprinted into the emotion-processing centres of the brain.
These regions of the brain get flooded with blood and oxygen when we are under stress (the stress response).
It is when these parts of our brain become overstimulated that we can:
- Get reminded/triggered by past events
- Make poor decisions
- Be less likely to reach out for help
- Believe that we are broken
- Start to forget what feeling OK was like
Long-term effects of stress can also be very damaging to our mental health, with the stress response affecting our gut health, reproductive system, muscular system, etc.
Stress uncovers your vulnerabilities.
Think about it like this. For those people who train to join an elite military unit such as the SAS, a huge proportion of their training is what is called ‘mental training’.
This focuses on developing mental toughness and endurance (or, in other words, building their tolerance levels), essential for special forces soldiers operating in extreme conditions.
This involves not only physical training but also mental exercises like positive thinking, visualization, and memory games.
The goal is to build resilience, manage stress, and maintain focus under pressure.
Why do they concentrate so much on this? Because there’s a good chance special forces soldiers are going to be put into stressful situations that test their resilience to that stress.
In other words, to find a barrier to that vulnerability.
Now, I’m not saying you need to join the SAS, but what I am saying is that if you are experiencing depression, first take a good, hard look at what you are going through.
Evaluate the factors in your life that are taking a toll on you. Perhaps, just understanding that it’s OK to not be “firing on all cylinders” given what you’ve gone through, or are going through, can help.
And then, perhaps look at making changes to your environment, relationships, and situation to help you feel more at peace (and often, more in control).
I don’t see any good in telling people that they are broken or deficient, or that their brain is letting them down! To me, this could just exacerbate the negative effect the person is experiencing.
Again, antidepressant medications can be an assistance, but perhaps we need to be a little more realistic about our stress tolerance levels, too.
