When the level of serotonin, the brain s mood-elevating and tranquilizing neurotransmitter, is too low, depression results. This is the biochemical derangement that antidepressant drugs try to control, but these drugs should be your last resort for numerous reasons. Antidepressant drugs take over a normal function of the body. They do nothing to correct the real underlying cause of the problem. An imbalance in neurotransmitters may be caused by any of the above biochemical and physiological causes of depression.
Antidepressant drugs have serious, sometimes deadly, side-effects.
Safe, effective natural alternatives are available that help the body re-establish normal neurotransmitter balance. SSRIs block the removal of serotonin by nerve cells in the brain, thus leaving more serotonin to bind to brain receptor sites. While too little serotonin is believed to cause depression, too much serotonin makes people anxious, obsessive, violent and unable to feel empathy. In addition, drug reactions to synthetic antidepressants cause 31 deaths per 1 million prescriptions. In one out of every 25 children taking it, Luvox causes mania.