Sharjah24 – AFP: A controversy in the scientific community over recent claims anti-depressants can be ineffective at treating depression has highlighted the difficulties in understanding mental health conditions.
One of the prevailing theories currently focuses on serotonin. Depression has been linked to a lack of the molecule, which is involved in transmitting emotions to the brain.
Claims that depression has no link to a chemical imbalance in the brain related to serotonin, casting doubt on the need for anti-depressants, have sparked fierce reaction.
A study by psychiatrists Joanna Moncrieff and Mark Horowitz in the journal Molecular Psychiatry in July concluded that there was no proven link between a lack of serotonin and depression.
The authors said it queried the underlying assumption behind the use of anti-depressants, which are mostly developed to alter serotonin levels, undoing a theory that for decades acted as a framework for research.
The study is based on several previous publications, but it quickly attracted criticism -- particularly its presentation by Moncrieff, known for her scepticism towards biological explanations of depression and her radical stance against the pharmaceutical industry.
"I'm broadly in agreement with the authors' conclusions about our current efforts, though I lack their adamantine certainty," psychiatrist Phil Cowen said on the Science Media Centre website.
"No mental health professional" would endorse the view that a complex condition like depression "stems from a deficiency in a single neurotransmitter", Cowen added.
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