I have never believed the connection as there was never any proof that depression was caused by a lack of serotonin .
Now it seems scientists agree
I’ve always thought along those lines and to me the evidence was/is the sometimes swings of elation displayed by some of those taking SSRI’s.
I think that depression is something genetic , some people are just predisposed to being depressed .
Others experience horrendous circumstances but remain upbeat .
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I agree Muds. If anyone should be a depressive it’s me with what I’ve had to contend with, but I am not one. If I feel low and life is running against me, I exploit my ASMR and relive any tension with my music.
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I’m convinced it is caused by brain chemistry but the brain chemistry will vary in every individual & will change day by day. The trouble with SSRI mass prescribing is that it treats a human as one size fits all. It’s important to have balance between all the different chemical messengers and they have yet to work out how to do that. It’s been well known for years that only a minority % of patients respond to serotonin inhibitors.
However, the majority of scientists are attracted to simple solutions which don’t require consideration of multiple variables.
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Apparently exercise can ward off depression.
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I know I bang on about it but cold water swimming and cold water immersion can help with depression, it’s the endorphin high from the shock to your body!
(Also eases arthritis and joint pain by reducing inflammation, just saying 
)
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good call Maree!
Hi
The problem here in the UK is the NHS. Fetish of Pathways.
The one size fits nobody category which the computer puts you in in response to certain fixed questions and there you stay.
For me watching my tropical fish is a great mood lifter as is growing stuff in my garden.
NHS Pathways cause depression.
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I’m inclined to agree with that, Muddy. Not sure about actual clinical depression, but certainly anxiety, nervousness, and not being able to handle stress is.
A friend of mine gets seriously low, and I mean to the point you can see she needs help, and her adult daughter is just the same. Both are sensitive and kind people.
But what annoys me, is when you try to help, all you get is “I’m alright”, when its obvious they are not.
Why are these people so reluctant to seek help, it’s almost like they want to stay in the pits sometimes.
Weed helps many people who are depressed.
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People who feel like this have a skewed perspective of “help”. Very often they feel that there is no help and that nothing anyone can do or say will make them feel any better. It’s not that they want to stay like this, its just that they don’t have the mental/emotional energy to feel that there is any point.
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Not sure it wards it off but it helps somewhat to bring the brain chemistry back into balance with feelgood chemicals. I used to suffer from SAD (seasonally affective disorder) for years and my mood would dip as the nights grew shorter. I would still regularly exercise (swimming) but it would be the reduction in sunlight that would hit me regardless. I still feel less happy after we pass the longest day of the year.
This was then enhanced by PMT to the point where at certain times of the month I felt incredibly bleak with a combination of hormones and short days. I can’t describe the feeling other than thinking everything that you ever valued meant nothing & was a sham on those days. Only to feel ok again when you realised what it was a couple of days later. A SAD light helped me along with winter sun every year. But PMT- led depression should hold a clue that it’s far more complex than just feeding people serotonin.
I think diet, exercise, meditation, understanding & insight helps but that bleakness, it’s indescribable. JK Rowling grasped it embodied in the dementors who sucked out your soul.
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it makes depression much worse in many. Can lead to psychosis.
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Yes, good point Pixie. You are probably right.
Yes it’s down to brain wiring, but also both nature and nurture early child developmental physical psychological environment. The development of the brain is also influenced by development up to age 5, and then through adolescence. The size of the amydala by both genetics and later development, diet, nurturing etc. Synaptic pruning is an interesting subject too. In some individuals for various reasons the process doesn’t prune sufficiently and that can lead to problems in adulthood. You simply can’t fix this with happy pills.
And sometimes people offering help can feel as if they’re just adding to the pressure and make the depressed person feel inadequate because they they can’t respond and “get better”
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I suppose it can also depend on the cause of the depression in the first place.
Sometimes there perhaps isn’t an obious cause, just a general build up of worries, but other times there is a definite trigger. Perhaps its about learning to be aware of the triggers, and then how to handle it.
But with things like loneliness, the answer could just be just to find something pleasureable to do and have some company, and friends to talk to.
I think it all cases though, it’s something recognised and best caught early, and not left for the person to sink down and down till it much harder to reach them.
Nah. That’s a load of old shoemakers by the “thou shalt not enjoy life” drones. It comes down to cause or effect. Those predisposed to be psycho’s often turn to Mother Nature rather than grass creating psycho’s. Most self diagnosed depressives should just pull themselves together and get on with life.
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You are right Annie, scientists find an answer to a health problem that works for some and think it will work for everybody, but it doesn’t.
I have been an insulin dependent diabetic for over 30 years and have proved that the expected timing of the insulin doesn’t work on me. I did a series of blood tests to prove my point to my consultant so he tried to find other reasons that could have caused me to go into unexpected hypos.
They always try to blame the patient error for these problems , but now too many Type 1 diabetics are proving that they are not all the same, so I told him that I believe his ideas don’t apply to us all and adjusting my treatment to fit my needs over the last 28 years has kept me alive & well, so I am sticking to it!
He told me that the insulin he prescribed will start working immediately so to have my jab when I sit down to eat…my blood tests proved that it takes at least 3 hours to start working so I told him to try listening to his patient, rather than the pharmaceutical rep who tries to sell the products!
They don’t know how to deal with patients whose bodies act significantly different & they don’t seem to have the time to find a method of dealing with it.
I wonder how many of us have tried to tell doctors " We are not all the same"
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