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Is mood chemistry?

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 6, pages 241–246 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The chemical hypothesis of depression suggests that mood disorders are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, which can be corrected by antidepressant drugs. However, recent evidence indicates that problems in information processing within neural networks, rather than changes in chemical balance, might underlie depression, and that antidepressant drugs induce plastic changes in neuronal connectivity, which gradually lead to improvements in neuronal information processing and recovery of mood.

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Figure 1: Monoamine hypothesis of mood disorders.
Figure 2: The chemical hypothesis of depression.
Figure 3: The network hypothesis of depression.
Figure 4: A combinatorial approach for treating depression based on the network hypothesis.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank H. Rauvala, M. Saarma, M. Castrén and R. Galuske for their comments to the manuscript, and the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, Sohlberg Foundation and the Academy of Finland and for support.

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  1. the Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Finland

    Eero Castrén

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Castrén, E. Is mood chemistry?. Nat Rev Neurosci 6, 241–246 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1629

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