Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring

yeah yeah and so this was a really big deal at the time you know a group of researchers led by joanna mong brief and out at university king's college london they essentially did a review of every single study out there that had looked at serotonin in depression and so looking for correlations you know in these depressed patients when we bring them in if we if we draw the central spinal fluid

yeah yeah and so this was a really big deal at the time you know a group of researchers led by joanna mong brief and out at university king's college london they essentially did a review of every single study out there that had looked at serotonin in depression and so looking for correlations you know in these depressed patients when we bring them in if we if we draw the central spinal fluid

you know out and we look at the metabolites of serotonin you know are they are they lower you know they never found it you know they would do autopsies of the brains of people who had a lot of depression and they would look for the concentration of you know serotonin receptors on the neurons absolutely no difference and then they also touched on

you know out and we look at the metabolites of serotonin you know are they are they lower you know they never found it you know they would do autopsies of the brains of people who had a lot of depression and they would look for the concentration of you know serotonin receptors on the neurons absolutely no difference and then they also touched on

really high-tech brain imaging studies, things called functional MRIs, where you can look at structures in the brain, and you can also look at the way the physiology of the brain changes. And they got all these people with depression, and they got normal people, and they could not find any reliable differences between them. So what this means is that

really high-tech brain imaging studies, things called functional MRIs, where you can look at structures in the brain, and you can also look at the way the physiology of the brain changes. And they got all these people with depression, and they got normal people, and they could not find any reliable differences between them. So what this means is that

There is no underlying chemical problem that we're seeing with people who have depression, at least not one that we can test for. Maybe we haven't found it yet. But the idea that we are fixing well-known problems with these drugs is false. This doesn't mean that there can't be things out there like temperament. We know that temperament is kind of genetic.

There is no underlying chemical problem that we're seeing with people who have depression, at least not one that we can test for. Maybe we haven't found it yet. But the idea that we are fixing well-known problems with these drugs is false. This doesn't mean that there can't be things out there like temperament. We know that temperament is kind of genetic.

But it's not this easily understood thing where it derives from this one thing in the brain. It's likely polygenic, meaning it's made up of multiple different genes. But that's not a disease. This is just normal human variation that you get some people who are more nervous and some people who are more extroverted.

But it's not this easily understood thing where it derives from this one thing in the brain. It's likely polygenic, meaning it's made up of multiple different genes. But that's not a disease. This is just normal human variation that you get some people who are more nervous and some people who are more extroverted.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's just normal human variation. I mean, some people are taller, some people are shorter, some people are more athletic and less. And all of these different things have survival advantages, and they're completely normal. And so what this paper by Joanna Moncrief

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's just normal human variation. I mean, some people are taller, some people are shorter, some people are more athletic and less. And all of these different things have survival advantages, and they're completely normal. And so what this paper by Joanna Moncrief

It really brought to the fore, at least for humans, that when we are using these drugs, we are not fixing broken brains. We are papering over anxiety and depression with a drug. And that made a lot of people very uncomfortable to hear that, but it's the truth. And that's why that paper was such a big deal.

It really brought to the fore, at least for humans, that when we are using these drugs, we are not fixing broken brains. We are papering over anxiety and depression with a drug. And that made a lot of people very uncomfortable to hear that, but it's the truth. And that's why that paper was such a big deal.

Well, see, a lot of this comes down to commercial forces, right? And so I mean, most doctors have known for a long time, essentially, depression. Why do people get depressed? Well, it could be due to life circumstances or it could be due to maybe things we don't understand.

Well, see, a lot of this comes down to commercial forces, right? And so I mean, most doctors have known for a long time, essentially, depression. Why do people get depressed? Well, it could be due to life circumstances or it could be due to maybe things we don't understand.

And so I think we've always had this idea that there was this interface between maybe your temperament and just the natural variations between people and then also stresses in one's life. What the drug companies wanted to do was they wanted to downplay the life hardship. When life hardship leads to depression and anxiety, they want to downplay that because that's not what their product fixes.

And so I think we've always had this idea that there was this interface between maybe your temperament and just the natural variations between people and then also stresses in one's life. What the drug companies wanted to do was they wanted to downplay the life hardship. When life hardship leads to depression and anxiety, they want to downplay that because that's not what their product fixes.

They wanted to paint depression and anxiety as more biological than it was because that's what they had the solution to do. And when you have a group of powerful companies who have billions of dollars of marketing spend, And in the US, they used it on television. You know, there are old ads from, you know, the 2000s, where there's this bouncing Zoloft blob.

They wanted to paint depression and anxiety as more biological than it was because that's what they had the solution to do. And when you have a group of powerful companies who have billions of dollars of marketing spend, And in the US, they used it on television. You know, there are old ads from, you know, the 2000s, where there's this bouncing Zoloft blob.