Depression or hormones
SAMHSA’s National Helpline | SAMHSA
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SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
Also visit the online treatment locator.
SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.
Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.
The service is open 24/7, 365 days a year.
English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.
In 2020, the Helpline received 833,598 calls. This is a 27 percent increase from 2019, when the Helpline received a total of 656,953 calls for the year.
The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid.
If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.
The service is confidential. We will not ask you for any personal information. We may ask for your zip code or other pertinent geographic information in order to track calls being routed to other offices or to accurately identify the local resources appropriate to your needs.
No, we do not provide counseling. Trained information specialists answer calls, transfer callers to state services or other appropriate intake centers in their states, and connect them with local assistance and support.
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Suggested Resources
What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families
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Assures teens with parents who abuse alcohol or drugs that, "It's not your fault!" and that they are not alone. Encourages teens to seek emotional support from other adults, school counselors, and youth support groups such as Alateen, and provides a resource list.After an Attempt: A Guide for Taking Care of Your Family Member After Treatment in the Emergency Department
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For additional resources, please visit the SAMHSA Store.
Last Updated: 08/30/2022
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British scientists: depression is not associated with low levels of the "happiness hormone" - serotonin
- Rachel Schraer
- Health and disinformation reporter
understand the events.
Image copyright, Getty Images
A new study by British scientists that found no connection between low levels of the "happiness hormone" serotonin and depression has become one of the most resonant in recent times.
The authors of this scientific paper have reached conclusions that call into question the treatment of depression as a mental disorder.
When Sarah was in her early 20s, she suffered the first major mental illness of her life. The doctors who prescribed her the medicine said it was like "insulin for diabetics". The pills were meant to correct a chemical imbalance in her brain, and they took them for the rest of her life.
Sarah's mother had type 1 diabetes, so she took the doctor's orders seriously.
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Sarah continued to take the pills even though they only made her worse, eventually hearing voices telling her to kill herself, after which she was given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
The doctors' assertion that Sarah needed medicine, like a diabetic needs insulin, had no scientific basis. However, the conclusion that Sarah received from the doctors about a "chemical imbalance" in Sarah's brain was not unusual.
"You feel betrayed by people you trusted," she says.
Image caption,Sarah and her mother
Many psychiatrists have long known that low serotonin levels do not play a major role in depression - this latest study is nothing new to them. However, the public outcry caused by the results of this scientific work tells us that for many it was a discovery.
True, some interpreted the results of the study in their own way and radically, deciding that antidepressants do not work in principle. Doctors fear that confused patients will abruptly stop taking their medications, in return for a withdrawal syndrome, or abstinence.
The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that antidepressants should not be stopped abruptly unless there is a medical emergency.
Slow dose reduction may minimize withdrawal symptoms.
Sarah has problems with mobility and speech after undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
What did the results of the study show?
The authors reviewed 17 studies and found that serotonin levels in people with depression did not differ from those in people without depression.
These results suggest that antidepressants cannot cure depression by replenishing serotonin deficiency.
"Many people know that paracetamol helps with headaches," says Michael Bloomfield. "But hardly anyone seriously thinks that headaches can be caused by a lack of this medicine."
Do antidepressants work?
According to the results, the benefits of taking antidepressants are only slightly greater than those of placebo pills. Scientists debate how big this difference is.
Some patients report that taking antidepressants helps them manage their mental health problems and helps them manage their symptoms of depression on a daily basis.
Royal College of Psychiatrist Professor Linda Gask says antidepressants are "something that makes a lot of people feel better quickly," especially when it comes to crisis situations.
However, one of the paper's authors, Professor Joanna Moncrieff, points out that most drug company research is short-term—little is known about how psychotropic medications affect people's well-being in the long term.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,British scientists have found that antidepressants are only marginally more beneficial than placebo pills.
In addition to the fact that antidepressants may not cure mental illness, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Improvement, some people experience serious side effects from taking them, including suicidal ideation, sexual dysfunction, emotional devastation, and insomnia.
The authors of the study say these risks need to be more explicit.
Since last year, British doctors have advised patients to try psychological therapy before prescribing medication. mindfulness practices and meditation.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Doctors in the UK advise patients to exercise, try meditation or psychological therapy before resorting to psychotropic medications
What was the reaction to the study?
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After the publication of this study, many people began to talk about the fact that antidepressant treatment was "built on a myth" and that it was all a conspiracy by the drug companies.
In fact, the authors of this work did not study the effects of psychotropic drugs.
Serotonin plays a role in our mood, so adjusting its levels can help people feel happier, at least for a while, even if the level of this neurotransmitter was not abnormally low to begin with. Increasing the amount of serotonin can also contribute to the emergence of new neural connections.
Some believe that this study tells us that depression is not a mental illness, but a reaction to our environment.
"Of course, we are talking about both, - says one of the authors of the work, Dr. Mark Horowitz. - Your genetics affects the level of your resistance to stress."
Zoya, who suffers from severe depression and psychosis, believes that simply renaming depression into "stress" that can be dealt with by solving all her social problems is an overly simplistic approach that misses people with really serious problems.
Psychoses in Zoya's family are not uncommon, they are mainly associated with stressful situations, for example, lack of time before exams.
According to Zoya, she managed to find drugs (including antidepressants) that changed her life. She believes that the risk of drug-induced side effects is worth avoiding the truly dire situations.
All experts interviewed by the BBC agree. Patients need to be given more comprehensive information so that they can weigh these risks on their own.
Hormones and bad mood: how to avoid depression
March 31, 2021 13:02
Which hormone deficiency or excess can cause irritability and bad mood? How to cope with such conditions, and how to avoid depression? How exactly does hormone levels affect human behavior? These and other questions were answered by Dr. Sergei Agapkin, as well as endocrinologist Galina Melnichenko, on the air of the Russia 1 channel.
People push in the queues, they are rude on the road, they are rude in shops... What is it: spring exacerbation or bad upbringing? "For many people, bad mood, aggression and irritability can actually be associated with hormonal disorders," says Dr.
Sergei Agapkin. How do hormones affect the brain and what to do about it? Answers - on the air of the channel "Russia 1".
Svetlana Korableva (58 years old) came to the broadcasting studio, who is not at all happy with this spring. For several months she has been struggling with a constant feeling of irritability. This condition negatively affects relations with her husband and daughter. She seriously fears for the future of her family: constant quarrels have so heated the situation that the matter may end in divorce. What can cause irritability and mood swings?
Svetlana, who works as a director of a travel company, decided to turn to specialists. She had already tried taking sedatives, but it didn't help. The woman believes that menopause is to blame. Galina Melnichenko, an endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, decided to help her understand the problem.
"We have before us a very beautiful woman in excellent shape, who can hardly be called very young.
Svetlana said that menopause had begun. Just as once in adolescence our hormones influenced our behavior and reactions - in the same way, the departure of these sex hormones will influence our mood," she said.
She also says certain thyroid conditions are more likely to occur with age. In particular, among women who hold responsible positions and make important decisions, one of the most common is diffuse toxic goiter.
Changes in the level of which hormones can affect the human psyche?
- Deficiency of thyroxin. Usually it is evidenced by overweight, apathy, swelling and confusion. But an excess of thyroxine disrupts the activity of the nervous system, and people become extremely irritable.
- Deficiency of sex hormones. This is a complex biologically determined process that causes many problems: severe hot flashes, sleep disturbances, increased urination ... If the deficiency of sex hormones confirms the FSH analysis, then we are really talking about menopause.
