Serotonin and depression are often mentioned in the same breath, as you are said to be missing serotonin or have too little of it. Now in 2013, research was conducted in rats.
In fact, rats can become depressed when they have no control over their environment. 2 groups were compared. In 1 group, the sense of control was turned off. Stress stimuli were made so high that they completely lost the sense of control. Then they become tired of life, lie down, do nothing at all.
Then the brains of these 2 groups were compared and found that serotonin levels in both brains were exactly the same. Very strange, because with depression it is often said that your serotonin levels are lower than they should be.
So back in 2013, this research was conducted, but people are still being told that they are missing a substance if they are labeled with depression. While there is evidence that this is not true, or does not have to be true.
Adding to this is the fact that your serotonin stores are in your gut. This has only been known for a few years. But if you miss it in your head then that says nothing, because 95% of your serotonin is in your gut.
So the system is much more complicated than what is so easily said about your head and that a pill will fix it. It doesn't.
Serotonin is there, but recording is difficult
What is true is that serotonin is a substance that enhances your feelings. But the nerve cells in your brain then don't absorb that substance properly, because somehow they can't do it well[1].
So the material is there, but they are not recorded.
So you can take a pill. And sometimes the pill works and sometimes it doesn't. If the pill is not working for you, it is often because the connections are not working properly.
As a result, antidepressants do not wake up in many cases.
The underlying cause is not missing the mark. Surely that often lies in the fact, or the idea, that you have no control. That is why you often see adolescents become gloomy. They start thinking about the world and that it is all going wrong and that they can't do anything about it. You can then wonder as an adolescent what purpose life has.
When you get this mindset you very quickly head toward gloomy feelings and depression. If you keep doing this you get a kind of vicious cycle, which makes everything feel worse. Eventually you go to the doctor and get a pill.
But it starts with the idea that you have no control.
The sense of control and depression
Now you can get into a discussion about what you actually have control over or not, but it's even more about the idea of having no control. The idea that your relationship will continue to work the way it works, the idea that your job will continue, that your children will do well, that you can live where you live. This makes you feel good.
Of course, this can suddenly change. For example, if your relationship goes out, you are evicted from your home or you get laid off. If many such things happen, you can become depressed.
After all, you expected everything to go the way it did, and that expectation gave you a kind of sense of false control. When that suddenly falls away, you no longer have a sense of control.
If you are somewhat predisposed, you may become depressed as a result. This varies from person to person, but even though you are predisposed it does not mean you will become depressed.
This is an interplay of environmental factors, nutrition and exercise. Even your upbringing and genes. You throw this whole package together and you get a result.
One result is that excessive stress triggers from feeling out of control can cause you to feel depressed. Gloomy feelings can spill over into depression.
What is the solution? From a scientific point of view, then, a pill with serotonin reuptake inhibitors is not the solution. Because that's not the point.
In addition, tryptophan deficiency has also been shown to have a major impact on the development of depressive feelings, irritability and aggression. The nice thing is that you can already absorb tryptophan in meat and fish[2].
This is something you can control and that sense of control, which is more important than the serotonin.
Living from your circle of influence
It's about feeling in control and having a sense of purpose. When you teach someone to live from the circle of influence, it is much more manageable.
So then you answer the question: what can I control? Step by step. Then you can get results pretty quickly.
But when you are told "You can't do anything about it," very different things happen. In fact, this sentence is very ambiguous.
On one hand, this phrase says, "You can't do anything about it because it just happens to you."
On the other hand, this sentence says, "There's nothing you can do about it either. No matter what you do, it's just not going to work." That interpretation is much scarier. Then you get even less of a sense of control. Then you become even more depressed.
However, of course you can do something about it.
Of course, you don't suddenly get your job back when you're laid off. What happened just happened, but you can do something.
So you can think, "What do I have control over?" You can expand that circle each time, so you lower your stress levels, too.
For example, walking and exercise lower your stress levels. Then you seem to get 6 percent less cortisol, the stress hormone. So then stress levels go down, too.
Now you may not feel like walking when you are depressed.
So then you start simple. What do you still have control over? And you repeat that.
"Hey, I can do this. Hey, I can do that. Hey, I can just grab a glass." They can be very dastardly things, but you have control over them.
Small exercises like that can make you feel more in control.
At some point, you will feel like you are in control of your life.
It seems very simple and it is, but if you are feeling depressed it may not be easy. Then keep in mind that small steps can get you big results. 1% change per day, or week, is still 50% change after 50 days or 50 weeks. How cool is that? If you feel 50% better?
Transforming a sense of control
Another way is to 1 transform the things you experience loss of control over . To experience that differently. For this you often need help, from a therapist, for example. I recommend a hypnotherapist, of course, because it is faster[3].
Then you regain the feeling that these were impactful things in your life, but that you now have control back. Those help you get a different perspective on life and that you have control over your life. That you feel like living again. So then you don't do your depression anymore.
Now you can say it's in your brain. Currently, 2% of all people in the world can say they have an inherited predisposition. But that doesn't mean you have to be depressed. Some people feel depressed faster than others, but even if you feel depressed faster it doesn't mean it's impossible for you to feel good.
Of course, I also know that there is a lot of sham control, but as long as my brain believes it has control it is fine.
Research also shows that women and people with serious illness who have a good prognosis often respond well to these feelings of control regarding feelings of depression[4].
But it's important to get out of the victim role. That way they can't push it on you either. They tried that with me, too. That I needed a pill, but I just thought it was all bullshit.
So science also says it's bullshit, but still doctors say nonsense things about a substance you're missing. Did they test that or something?
So before you start believing in that, take back control.
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Sources:
[1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00215473
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305701006700
https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/high-tryptophan-foods.php
[3] https://europepmc.org/article/med/32296221
[4] https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1991.tb01836.x
