Ray Peat on Depression

Short answer: Ray Peat described depression as a problem of brain energy, not a shortage of serotonin. He pointed to high serotonin and high cortisol in helpless, stressed animals, and to thyroid hormone as the factor that prevents the state from developing.

What Ray Peat wrote about depression

He argued that a new theory of depression is needed, because different antidepressants raise, lower or leave unchanged the action of serotonin and still work. Source: Serotonin, depression, and aggression: The problem of brain energy

In learned helplessness, the animal model of depression, serotonin is high, and excess serotonin helps create the state. Source: Serotonin, depression, and aggression: The problem of brain energy

During the development of learned helplessness the level of T3 in the blood falls. Removing the thyroid produces the same failure to escape, and giving thyroid beforehand prevents it. Source: The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)

The high cortisol associated with depression is, he wrote, one of the factors that shrink the brain during stress. Source: The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)

He rejected fish oil as a treatment. He cites a study of 29,133 men in which omega-3 oil or fish did not reduce depression or suicide. Source: The Great Fish Oil Experiment

He counted insomnia, depression and the so-called insanities as expressions of the same energy problem, with low thyroid function as a common thread. Source: Thyroid, insomnia, and the insanities: Commonalities in disease

Dark winters are a real cause. He describes them as powerful stressors that lower progesterone in women and testosterone in men. Source: Progesterone Summaries ↗

What he suggested in practice

• Check thyroid function.
• Light, especially in winter.
• Enough sugar and salt to keep stress hormones down.
• Depression is a medical condition. Do not stop a prescribed drug without your doctor.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 49 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Serotonin, depression, and aggression: The problem of brain energy · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Intelligence and metabolism · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Stem cells, cell culture, and culture: Issues in regeneration · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Thyroid, insomnia, and the insanities: Commonalities in disease · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Autonomic systems · original on raypeat.com ↗
• The dark side of stress (learned helplessness) · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Tryptophan, serotonin, and aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Aging Eyes, Infant Eyes, and Excitable Tissues · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

I have posted studies in which thiamine added to standard treatment improved depression, and in which cortisol was elevated in depressed people. Sun, carbs and a healthy gut are where I would start. More in The downfall of SSRI drugs.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about depression?

That it reflects low brain energy, with high serotonin and cortisol and often low thyroid function, rather than a deficiency of serotonin.

What did Ray Peat say about antidepressants?

That the serotonin theory does not explain them, since antidepressants that raise, lower or do not change serotonin action can all work.