Fresh ideas about the causes of depression are bringing new treatments

LAST yr, certainly one of our mostly held concepts about despair was turned the other way up. “Antidepressants examine casts doubt on medication taken by 8m folks,” The Occasions newspaper said in July. Different publications ran equally alarming headlines. Melancholy is without doubt one of the greatest medical issues dealing with societies worldwide, therapies have lengthy been controversial and right here was analysis displaying that Prozac and different widespread antidepressants are based mostly on a defunct speculation about what causes the situation. The examine’s lead researcher even went so far as to counsel that any advantages from such medicines come from a placebo impact.

Most antidepressant medication are mentioned to work by restoring ranges of a brain-signalling chemical known as serotonin, an thought generally often called the “chemical imbalance” speculation of despair. However the examine discovered that, opposite to what we’ve been advised for many years, despair isn’t truly attributable to low serotonin. This was a kick within the tooth for the many individuals who really feel they rely on antidepressants. It additionally raises a key query: if low serotonin can’t clarify despair, then what can? That isn’t the one thriller regarding the situation. We additionally don’t understand how speaking or electroconvulsive therapies work, nor can we perceive the influence of genetics or stress on psychological well being.

But, regardless of all this uncertainty, some stunning progress is being made. Two new therapies have lately develop into out there and others within the pipeline present promise. “The extent of science is extra superior than this paper implies,” says Carmine Pariante at King’s School London. “Issues should not as bleak as they seem.”

The 2 core options of despair are low temper and a …