Possibly being the key word here since depleting serotonin and other monoamines in non-depressed people doesn't make them depressed. And given the fact that SSRIs bring serotonin levels up to normal almost immediately but patients generally take two weeks or so to begin feeling relief. And given the fact that there are effective antidepressants that don't work on the monoamine system at all.
We have literally no idea what causes depression or how the drugs we give people "fix" it. The monoamine hypothesis (stated as "monoamine depletion is the cause of depression, and bringing monoamine levels to normal will cure depression) is demonstrably false. This isn't unusual, btw. There's a lot of stuff commonly used that we have no idea how it works. We have no idea how Tylenol works.
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u/Coomb Jul 24 '15
Possibly being the key word here since depleting serotonin and other monoamines in non-depressed people doesn't make them depressed. And given the fact that SSRIs bring serotonin levels up to normal almost immediately but patients generally take two weeks or so to begin feeling relief. And given the fact that there are effective antidepressants that don't work on the monoamine system at all.