Well, it’s really yesterday’s news. According to US News and World Report, which got it from Science, scientists have a new theory about how antidepressants work: they increase the presence of a piece of RNA that interferes with the brain’s ability to manufacture the chemical that whisks serotonin out of the synapse. Less of that chemical, more serotonin pinging your receptors, less depression. Of course, every term in that equation is still in doubt. They’re not sure it’s really the “minimolecule” that causes the increased presence of serotonin, and they’re really not sure that increased serotonin cures depression.
Now, what’s really interesting about this–besides the discovery itself, which is undoubtedly interesting, especially if you’re into neuroscience–is that it’s, what, twenty-one years since Prozac came on the market, and they still don’t know how the SSRIs work. It’s a black box, and in this case the black box is your brain. I’d say the USN&WR buried the lede.
