Serotonin is the hormone what makes us happy, so why aren’t we just injecting it into our body/taking it as tablets to get out of misery on command?
In: Biology
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter; it is one of several messengers in our brains. It does not just carry happy messages. All of the neurotransmitters pull double, triple, quadruple, etc. duty.
When we say it’s the ‘Happy Messenger’ we’re being very simple to the point of being wrong. It also carries the messages for: rewards, learning, eating, temperature, pooping, and many others. We’re still learning more and more about Serotonin.
Because it does over a dozen different things we do not take Serotonin pills. It would not go to the right place and deliver the right message. It might make you accidentally very hungry or make your temperature very hot.
We take medicine that targets the sad house in our brain, the house that keeps its doors closed to the happy messenger. With the right medicine the sad house keeps their doors open long enough for the right amount (hopefully) of happy messages to get through.
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