Symptoms Of Chronic Depression, Serotonin Vs Dopamine
Q: I recently started taking Lexapro, serotonin based pill for
depression.
I wonder why most medication for depression seem to focus on serotonin
uptake inhibitors rather than adding dopamine?
A:I don't know, but I know that there is a very popular dopamine re-
uptake inhibitor, but it's illegal in most countries. It's called
cocaine.
Dopamine is "added" only if you have problems with various
non-depression diseases (such as Parkinson's disease).
I might disagree. It is no more an addiction than a diabetic is
addicted to insulin. Some are on and off antidepressants as needed and
some have to stay on all the time. Some take antidepressants as a
consequence of a life experience such as death of a loved one. They
usually discontinue after a while and often never need them again.
Some suffer from depression so severely that they literally cannot
function without them. Without the medications, they would be
constantly in and out of the hospital or kill themselves. It is a
terrible, terrible illness that I would not wish on my worse enemy.
For many, the medications allow them to survive and if it works,
actually have a life.
It is my understanding that most of major depressive disorder is
related to genetic predisposition. Mine is genetic in nature and
comes on every so often for no reason. Most of the time I am able to
get through without medication as I have some very good coping tools I
have learned and practiced as a skill. At