why are serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors used for anxiety when norepinephrine causes anxiety?
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There is a [fantastic](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL848F2368C90DDC3D) series of lectures by Robert Sapolski on YouTube. He doesn’t get into this specifically (I think it came out before SNRIs but I’m not sure.)
One point he makes is that the brain and neurotransmitters are fantastically complicated and we should be cautious with simplifications.
Seratonin is not the “happy” chemical. It’s a messenger involved in a wide variety of functions in a massively complicated system.
This isn’t a direct answer to your question, other than to challenge the basic premise of it. There’s a lot more under the hood.
Hopefully this comment is helpful perspective, even though I’m not able to answer the specifics.
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