Serotonin rocks!

I was looking for YouTube videos about depression, and found that many of the friendly-looking videos out there have the same information. Depression can lead to weight loss, weight gain, lack of sleep, too much sleep, loss of interest in things you used to love, blahblahblah.

I'm not trying to discount this information at all, but if you're a seasoned sufferer like me, you already know all that. Those videos seem to be for people who don't know about depression or don't know they have depression. AsapSCIENCE is one of the coolest YouTube channels. It's basically a pioneer of the whiteboard-style realm. If you follow the link to this video's YouTube page, you'll be able to find the sources that make up the information in this video.

Here's the I-can't-watch-this-video-because-I'm-at-work version:

Serotonin - brain chemical

• For a long time, depression was linked with a shortage of serotonin in the brain.
• Patients with depression were often prescribed drugs like SSRIs, which typically increase serotonin levels.
• One study found that the longer patients took their serotonin-based drugs, the smaller the hippocampus (responsible for memory and emotion) became.
• The drug did, however, "promote the release of other chemicals [which] stimulate neurogenesis, or the growth of new neurons."
• However, more recent research found that there's more to depression than that. 

S allele - serotonin transporter gene

• Each of us is equipped with two copies of the serotonin transporter gene, the S allele.
• One comes from each biological parent.
• This gene can either be long or short.
• Individuals with two short S alleles were likely to have depressive behaviors.
• Individuals with one short and one long S allele were also somewhat likely to have depressive behaviors.
• Individuals with two long S alleles were not likely to have depressive behaviors.

While the whole nature-versus-nurture debate still swirls around the psychological field, biological evidence is still useful in seeing how depression and the physical body interact. One of the last messages viewers take away from this video is: Despite someone saying we should "get over" our depression, nobody else deserves a say in our mental health.

The more research that pours into the mental health field, the more treatment options will be available. I was on SSRIs for years, and I felt indestructible.† If you aren't sure whether you have clinical depression, please talk to your doctor. I held off on that conversation for a long time, but I finally started to see improvements once I let myself talk about it. We deserve peace of mind! No case of depression is too small to talk about. I used to repeat to myself that other people have it worse. Looking back, I understand that mindset, but I want you to know that you don't need to feel like you're forever suspended off the side of the fucking Eiffel Tower. You deserve relief too!

If you need somebody to talk to or have any questions, please take advantage of the contact box on the right-hand side of this page. I don't want you to feel alone.

Take care of yourselves, friends! I'll talk to you next time.