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New MRI Studies Show SSRIs Bring Rapid Changes to Brain Function
A story at the Los Angeles Times reports that researchers at the Max Planck Institute have found that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, various of which are widely used in anti-depressant medications, cause changes in healthy subjects' brain architecture just hours after ingestion. As the article mentions, one reason that this rapid change is surprising is that patients taking SSRIs to treat depression typically take considerably longer (weeks) to perceive a change in mood. A slice from the story:
When more serotonin was available, this resting state functional connectivity decreased on a broad scale, the study found. This finding was not particularly surprising -- other studies have shown a similar effect in brain regions strongly associated with mood regulation. But there was a two-fold shock: Some areas of the brain appeared to buck the trend and become more interdependent. And all the changes were evident only three hours after the single dosage. ... The rapid connectivity shifts noted by the study might therefore be precursors to longer-term changes, perhaps starting with remodeling of synapses, the microscopic gaps where chemical neurotransmitters such as serotonin flood across to an adjacent brain cell, the study suggests. But this type of brain scanning can’t pick up changes at such a scale, so the hypothesis will have to be tested other ways[.] ... Study subjects did not have diagnoses of depression, so researchers will need to generate similar maps among those diagnosed with depression, and re-map them during and after depressive episodes, as well as after treatment, Sacher said. Comparisons might then show whether a certain initial architecture predicts treatment success.
I, on a personal level, am skeptical about the usage--or at least the possible over-usage--of mood-altering medications primarily because we know so little about the way they work. See TFA as an example. I'm doubly skeptical on using SSRIs and other drugs on childrens, adolescents, and even young adults, as there are even more uncertainties about these drugs on still-developing brains!
Having said that, SSRIs are common medications today. The kind of people who are suicidal or have such a mood-disorder that going on a shooting rampage seems like a good idea are exactly the people for whom you would expect SSRIs to be prescribed! In other words, are SSRIs causing these issues (and earning your blame), or were the problems there to begin with?
I don't know, and I don't know of any studies or other medical evidence that points either way. IMH(and not not scientifically grounded)O, I would, like you, suspect some causal relationship.
Is figure out why so many who are on SSRI's or had recently stopped taking them, become suicidal or go on shooting rampages, or both.
Seriously, what the fuck? What an idiotic, close minded, asshole of a comment. 13% of the population are on anti-depressants, and go off them regularly. They do not shoot anyone or get suicidal. Sometimes, the mentally deranged end up shooting people or committing suicide. Is it any wonder that they had been medicated prior to going off the rails?!?! It's not the drugs, it's the asshole that took them. He had a general 13% of had take them even before you counted the fact they were crazy enough to commit murder.
Now stop making rude and insensitive comments about a group of people you clearly have no knowledge of what-so-ever. I took these drugs for over 15yrs and did not kill anyone, especially not myself, when I stopped taking them. If there is any one worst thing about SSRI's its the stigma people like you have put on people who take them.
13% of the population are on anti-depressants
Given that we don't actually know how they work, and considering that the individuals taking such drugs are basically paying to be guinea pigs in a giant experiment on brain chemistry, that statistic is extremely frightening.
Get off your high horse. It is the drugs a lot of the time. That is why anti depressant drugs carry black box warnings indicating that they increase the risk of suicide.
Because our understanding of how SSRIs operate on the most basic level is still very poor, and the research in question has found some clues about how to proceed. It makes sense to eliminate the variable of serious mood disorders, since the mechanisms behind them are poorly understand and differential diagnoses are a huge problem. Before fixing your car that runs rough you have to have some idea of how it works and what your tools do, and that's what this study was about. Hopefully some day soon we'll have a more thorough understanding of depression and similar ailments, as well as why some drugs help some people, but we are a long way off.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
I have struggled with clinical depression basically for my entire life. I was diagnosed when I was eight. I have been on disability most of my adult life for it.
I know exactly what he means by "clarity." It's nothing to do with intelligence. That's not always the word I'd use to describe it, but that's only because just one word won't do.