PSYC20006 Lecture Notes - Fall 2017 Lecture 10 - Major depressive disorder, Paroxetine, Tryptophan

• School: University of Melbourne
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC20006
• Professor: Stefan Bode

Document Summary

Acts as a neurotransmitter influencing the activity of a variety of neurons throughout the brain. Important in many functions like sleep, arousal, appetite, temperature, working memory, hallucinations and mood: depression. Identical twin - >80% (if depression was purely genetic ie. nature argument, then identical twins should be at 100% risk -> both genes and environment play a role in depression: serotonin in depression and personality. Brain imaging studies show a reduction in some types of serotonin receptors in the brain of unmediated depressed patients show. Colourful areas that serotonin receptors are relativelt reduced in depressed patients. Post-mortem studies patients with depression had reduced number of serotonin receptors. A gene involved in the transportation of serotonin is linked to increased risk of developing depression. [highly unethical] if the hypothesis was supported, these participants will relapse into depression due to the reduced availability of serotonin. There are massive individual variations in serotonin function across the population.