| Depression The basic cause of most depression is a deficiency in certain chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. There are other causes of depression that are less common: mercury and chemical toxicity, sensitivities to environment factors, metabolic disturbances, endocrine abnormalities, etc. The different neurotransmitters involved in depression are: dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and serotonin. These chemicals are proteins made of amino acids. The precursor to serotonin is tryptophan. The precursor of the other neurotransmitters is tyrosine. There are also other nutrients needed to produce these such as B6, S-adenosylmethionine, and magnesium, etc. The traditional method of dealing with depression is with the use of drugs that increase the local available neurotransmitter at the brain cell receptor site. We feel this is a temporary approach and doesn't solve the problem of why it happened. Other drawbacks include the side effects of these drugs and the potential life time cost of drug therapy. Patients with depression are evaluated with a thorough history and physical exam, basic laboratory work to rule out metabolic causes for depression, such as hypothyroidism, and more sophisticated studies of nutritional biochemistry and toxicology. Recent evidence has shown that special types of full spectrum light therapy can increase serotonin levels and decrease depression. |
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