How can lack of Serotonin have anything to do with OCD?

Question

I get it it’s the good mood hormone and you can feel down when you are low on it. Makes sense how it could be the cause of depression.

But how it can be related to brain making stressful thoughts? And forcing one to do compulsions for relief?

And why when you take SSRIs and your Serotonins reach a normal level, a significant reduction of symptoms occurs? I don’t get it.

In: Other

Answer 1

OP, any answer here that isn’t “we don’t really know” is just (informed/educated) speculation. The fact is, we don’t really know why SSRIs work for depression, anxiety, OCD, or others, or why some SSRIs seem better for some things than other things and work for some people better than others. The science isn’t settled and it’s still very much an active area of research. There really isn’t an ELI5 answer other than “there’s a lot we don’t know about the brain because it’s ridiculously complicated.”