Dopamine agonists may treat “untreatable” depression, by lowering serotonin
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The list of studies undermining the “serotonin hypothesis” in depression keeps growing. Actually, those studies do not undermine the hypothesis bur rather turn it on its head. Namely, while mainstream medicine claims that low serotonin causes depression, the available evidence from non-sponsored (read: fraudulent) studies suggests the exact opposite is the case – i.e. elevated serotonin is a cause of depression and lowering serotonin is therapeutic. It just so happens that dopamine and serotonin have an inverse relationship. Each one suppressed the levels of the other. Thus, when serotonin is high dopamine is low and vice versa. That relationship extends to synthetic molecules that mimic the effects of serotonin or dopamine at the receptor level. For example serotonin agonists suppress dopamine synthesis and vice versa. The study below demonstrated that using a dopamine agonist drug approved for the treatment of Parkinson disease (PD) may be able to treat so-called “treatment resistant” depression, sometimes also called “permanent dystonia”. Of course, like all other dopamine agonists, the drug in question (pramipexole) inhibits serotonin synthesis by blocking tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), thus lowering serotonin levels systemically and locally in the brain. Ergo, another appropriate post title could be “Lowering serotonin treats untreatable depression”. Another appropriate title would be “SSRI drugs cause depression, serotonin blockers cure it”. Double embarrassment for medicine here. Not only is there no such thing as “untreatable” depression, but the cure is (again) the exact opposite of what medicine claims.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(25)00194-4/fulltext
“…A drug used for Parkinson’s disease has been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of difficult to treat depression, in a study led by the University of Oxford. The drug pramipexole was found to be substantially more effective than a placebo at reducing the symptoms of treatment resistant depression (TRD) over the course of nearly a year, when added to ongoing antidepressant medication. The trial, supported by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and published in The Lancet Psychiatry, included 150 patients with treatment resistant depression, with equal numbers receiving 48 weeks of pramipexole or a placebo, alongside ongoing antidepressant medication.”
“…In terms of the significance, Browning finds: “These findings on pramipexole are a significant breakthrough for patients for whom antidepressants and other treatments and therapies have not worked.” With the drug interactions, Browning elucidates: “Pramipexole is a medicine licensed for Parkinson’s disease and works by boosting the brain chemical dopamine. This differs from the majority of other antidepressant medications which act on brain serotonin and may explain why pramipexole was so helpful in this study.“