Bill- What drug companies are making that argument? They know it can't be serotonin absence from their own studies. The timing is all wrong; researchers since before Garcia-Sevilla have shown for a long time that there are far more likely suspects in the neuron (and questions still remain if such a reductive explanation makes any sense). The serotonin sensitivity/dearth hypotheses are easy to present to patients but I don't know of anyone who still buys any kind of cause/effect link to serotonin. E.g., the timing for maximum effects of serotonin increase are roughly 6 1/2-lives of administration- for most SSRI's less than 12 hours x6 = 3days or less. There is no serotonin agent (SSRI or otherwise) that shows reduction of symptomatology anywhere close to what would be necessary. (Not that this distracts from a host of other arguments against serotonin as having any cause/effect role). Your point about headaches and aspirin is also useful except that the serotonin argument is closer to saying that broken legs are a dearth of plaster/fiber-glass casts. ;) Tim _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker -----Original Message----- From: William Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat 3/8/2008 7:24 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re:[tips] anti-depressives in the news again The article pointed to by Stephen is interesting and I believe it should be said in as many places as possible that there is no clear evidence that depression is caused by the malfunction of serotonin systems. However, I am perplexed by the suggestion in the article that evidence that SSRI's are truly effective would have any importance regarding the issue. This is the argument that pharmaceutical companies have been making. SSRI's relieve depression. SSRI's act on the serotonin system. Therefore depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance. It would be the same as arguing that headaches are caused by a lack of aspirin. Bill Scott >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/08/08 9:05 AM >>> On 8 Mar 2008 at 5:36, Allen Esterson wrote: > Another view on the current debate: > > http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Antideps27Feb08.pdf And yet still another: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/fsu-smp030308.php# Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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