The DOI matches its Crossref record; 455 of the 459 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Is serotonin an upper or a downer? The evolution of the serotonergic system and its role in depression and the antidepressant response.
Abstract
The role of serotonin in depression and antidepressant treatment remains unresolved despite decades of research. In this paper, we make three major claims. First, serotonin transmission is elevated in multiple depressive phenotypes, including melancholia, a subtype associated with sustained cognition. The primary challenge to this first claim is that the direct pharmacological effect of most symptom-reducing medications, such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), is to increase synaptic serotonin. The second claim, which is crucial to resolving this paradox, is that the serotonergic system evolved to regulate energy. By increasing extracellular serotonin, SSRIs disrupt energy homeostasis and often worsen symptoms during acute treatment. Our third claim is that symptom reduction is not achieved by the direct pharmacological properties of SSRIs, but by the brain's compensatory responses that attempt to restore energy homeostasis. These responses take several weeks to develop, which explains why SSRIs have a therapeutic delay. We demonstrate the utility of our claims by examining what happens in animal models of melancholia and during acute and chronic SSRI treatment.
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“‘depression’ (a disorder characterized by cognitive rumination) confers specific social advantages to help keep social problems in mental focus”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Andrews et al., 2015
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Metadata
- Authors
- Andrews, P. W., Bharwani, A., Lee, K. R., Fox, M., & Thomson, J. A.
- Affiliations
- McMaster University (CA)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Andrews, Paul W.
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-04
- Volume
- 51
- Pages
- 164-188
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2163250198
- Cited by
- 281
- References
- 459
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 10
- FWCI
- 3.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Keywords
- serotonin, depression, antidepressant response, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, melancholia, energy homeostasis, treatment delay, animal models of depression
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Antidepressive Agents, Brain, Depressive Disorder, Humans, Serotonin, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
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