NBC News has a good report on a small, new phase 2 clinical study that suggests laughing gas (nitrous oxide) might provide antidepressive benefits for folks who have treatment-resistant depression.

As you might know, ketamine has proven a ground-breaking new treatment for depression by blocking N-methyl-D-asparate receptors in the brain, as opposed to the more traditional serotonin receptors.

Well, researchers suggest laughing gas works via a similar mechanism, and perhaps that’s behind the benefits for treatment-resistant sufferers.

You can read more here, and remember it’s a small study, it’s phase 2 and there’s a lot of work to be done.

Also, this doesn’t, by any means, suggest that traditional SSRIs don’t work.

For some, they work spectacularly well. For others, not. And that’s because we all have different brains and brains are complicated.

The two simple background facts for this interesting, new study.

First, there’s a neurotransmitter in the brain called serotonin. It’s often called the “happy chemical” because it helps stabilize our mood and feelings of well-being and it impacts the whole body.

You’ve heard it before — not enough serotonin (or serotonin imbalance) and you’re set up for depression and anxiety. Thus, we get SSRI antidepressants that seek to increase or rebalance serotonin levels in the brain.

Second, serotonin has a transporter protein, 5-HTT, and it “pumps serotonin away from the cerebral neuron synapases.”

So theoretically, the higher your levels of 5-HTT, the lower your levels of serotonin, because more serotonin is getting pumped away, right?

Now here’s where it gets strange.

Studies have shown that people with depression actually have lower levels of 5-HTT (the transporter) which doesn’t make immediate sense, at all, because that would suggest depressed people have more serotonin in the brain. Or at least, not as much serotonin getting pumped away by 5-HTT.

Well, a brand new study published in Translational Psychiatry suggests, yes, we need to think about rethinking how the serotonin system works in depression.

Researchers treated 17 patients with depression and found that 13 had significant improvement. Great.

Now here’s the interesting thing — after treatment, their levels of 5-HTT averaged about 10% higher than the healthy control group.

In other words, depression treatment raised the levels of the transporter (5-HTT) that pumps serotonin away from the brain!

What does it mean, though?

Researcher Dr. Johan Lundberg explained in the news release:

“One possible interpretation is that the serotonin system doesn’t cause depression but is part of the brain’s defence mechanism for protecting itself against depression.

One might hypothesize, for example, that the level of 5-HTT drops when an individual is subjected to stress, such as during a depressive state, and that the level rises or normalises when this stress goes away.

It’s important to point out, however, that even if these ideas are raised by our study, its design doesn’t allow us to draw any conclusions about why levels of 5-HTT change.”

https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/ki-sti050621.php

This is just another important piece of the depression puzzle, and shows how inscrutable a medical condition it really is. Any brain condition is.

And that’s why it’s so hard to find an antidepressant that brings immediate relief, because everyone is different.

I recently wrote about a wonderful new study, though, that suggests we’re getting closer to finding the right Rx on the very first try.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine developed a blood test, “composed of RNA biomarkers, that can distinguish how severe a patient’s depression is, their risk of severe depression in the future and their risk of future bipolar disorder, or manic-depressive illness.”

Oh and, crucially, the test then gives doctors the tools to pick the Rx that would work best for you. Without theoretically having to try every singe one on the shelf.

I do think that we’re getting closer to the point where we can go to Quest or LabCorp, get our blood drawn, and then get a great Rx recommendation within a week.

That, of course, would be wonderful and would save so, so many lives.

“This new generation whines, whines, whines,” I can just hear Christians complain.

Well, we dismiss the warning signals at our own peril.

Far worse, at our precious children’s peril.

The New York Times has a terrific read on a rare but real phenomenon — depression among children, ages 3-7.

It’s often a precursor to serious depression later on in life, and I remember my first bout of nihilistic thought around the age of 4-5. And by that I mean, I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life and just wanted to get it over with. This, despite two loving parents.

Of course, I didn’t share those persistent, nihilistic thoughts with anyone, and of course most children who have them don’t. They barely understand them. But that doesn’t mean they’re not feeling them.

We can already hear the skeptics, right? “You just want to line the pockets of big pharma by giving these kids antidepressants.”

No, child psychiatrists certainly don’t want that for children as young as these.

Instead, there are two things they suggest we do.

First, look out for signs that your child is seriously depressed.

The NY Times:

“When young children are depressed, Dr. Kovacs said, it’s not unusual for “the primary mood to be irritability, not sadness — it comes across as being very cranky.” 

The best way for parents to recognize depression in young children is not so much by what a child says as by what the child does — or stops doing. Look for “significant changes in functioning,” Dr. Kovacs said, “if a child stops playing with favorite things, stops responding to what he used to respond to.”

This might mean a child loses interest in the toys or games or jokes or rituals that used to be reliably fun or entertaining, or doesn’t seem interested in the usual back and forth of family life.

The best way for parents to recognize depression in young children is not so much by what a child says as by what the child does — or stops doing. Look for “significant changes in functioning,” Dr. Kovacs said, “if a child stops playing with favorite things, stops responding to what he used to respond to.”

This might mean a child loses interest in the toys or games or jokes or rituals that used to be reliably fun or entertaining, or doesn’t seem interested in the usual back and forth of family life.”

So what’s a concerned parent to do?

First, talk to your pediatrician. They should know about local resources for helping this kind of thing.

Second, get treatment.

It’s often called PCIT (“Parent-Child Interaction Therapy“) and helps parents learn how to praise their child in ways that bolster their feelings of self-worth, because remember self-loathing is a warning sign of depression in a child.

Third, Christians, we really need to to understand that children are children.

If we tell them they’re accepted by Christ and beloved, what does that really mean to a child who believes they’re not even accepted and loved by anyone?

It’s up to us to model Christ’s love while we tell them about his love. Otherwise, it’s counterproductive.

And remember that a five year old is a five year old!

Their brains aren’t really great yet at even processing Christianity or 99% of the Bible stories most Christian parents tell them. Of if they do, they get the wrong thing from them because these are still kids who think monsters live under the bed. On no evidence, and against our assurances.

I can tell you, without a doubt, that those Bible stories were probably the most disturbing thing swirling around in my four year old brain, and it’s remarkable that in a Christian culture where movies must be “nice, sweet, and gentle” (vomit) even for sixteen year olds, we nevertheless regale kindergartners in Sunday school with stories about God drowning everyone in the world in the flood.

The disconnect is astonishing.

Think about it this way.

When Jesus told the kids to come chat with him, do you think he told them the story of the Flood? Or about Jacob tricking Esau out of his birthright? Or about Adam and Eve? Or about Samson.

I’d guess he told them something very simple and deeply meaningful, reassuring and loving for a five year old — something that proved that he brought nothing but good news to even the smallest among us.

However, remember, that just as in adult depression, childhood depression can be impervious to a message, and if we notice these depressive behaviors in our very young kids, we should talk to our pediatrician, and we should get help and we should also be the help, and run and play with them, and talk with them, and encourage them to name their emotions, and fill their hearts with the fact — the utterly Biblical fact — that they are beyond special, loved without condition, by both us and Jesus.

[Free Photo: Pexels]