Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13885

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Leo J, Lacasse JR.
Is Clinical Depression Caused by a Serotonin Imbalance? A Response to Peter Kramer
Chemical Imbalance 2008 Jun 11
http://www.chemicalimbalance.org/Serotonin/Home/Entries/2008/6/11_Serotonin2008.html

Abstract: The claim that depression is caused by an imbalance of serotonin is often made in the mainstream media. In a recent paper in Society we report on our efforts to determine what evidence reporters who make these claims were using as supporting documentation. We corresponded with a pharmaceutical company, several psychiatrists, and the National Institute of Mental Health. For the most part we received few citations of scientific papers, and those that were cited did not provide evidence for a causal connection between serotonin and depression. In our experience, there are few scientists familiar with the data that will publicly defend the serotonin theory of depression. We also believe that debate between researchers holding conflicting viewpoints is an essential part of scientific progress. We were therefore pleased to see that Peter Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac, recently posted a defense of the theory on his blog. Dr. Kramer had previously made public comments responding to critiques of the serotonin theory in 2006, stating, “While it’s true that one could say that these drug companies are using a very oversimplified metaphor – and a metaphor for something that may not even exist at all – it’s also wrong to suggest that it has no relationship to contemporary theories of mood regulation.” Since we agreed with this statement, we were intrigued by Dr. Kramer’s recent defense of the serotonin theory. In his blog posting, Dr. Kramer cites evidence to support the serotonin theory, much of it from a recent review article in the New England Journal of Medicine. All of the studies Kramer discusses are interesting research projects, but for us, the important question is: Do these studies provide enough scientific evidence to support the ubiquitous statements in the media about depression? As just a few examples: “Mental illness are simply chemical imbalances,” or “Depression is thought to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.”