a major center of 5-HT activity, serves as a filtering station for incoming sensory stimuli” (66). It screens the sensations and throws out the unimportant or irrelevant. These drugs may disrupt this process and allow a surge of data and an overload of brain circuits (66).MDMAMethylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, is better known as Ecstasy and is growing in use as a psychedelic drug. MDMA, at low doses, stimulates the dopamine receptors. At high doses, they produce greater effects on serotonin synapses, creating effects similar to LSD. These effects can last for up to two weeks after initial intake. Unlike LSD, it not only stimulates the serotonin synapses; it destroys them. This is why regular users say the effects seem to get weaker; because they have actually destroyed the serotonin synapses (72). An experiment was done with monkeys to find if the receptors would regenerate. They seemed to grow in some parts of the brain and not others. Where they did grow, it was a gradual process and took more than a year. However, it is not known whether this regeneration occurs in humans.DepressionSince the discovery of serotonin in the 1950’s, researchers have found evidence that it plays a role in emotions and judgment. Accumulating evidence has shown that depression results from a deficiency on serotonin or inefficient serotonin receptors. For example, the picture on page __ shows a severely depressed person (left) and a healthy person (right). They were both given fenfluramine, which is a drug known to increase serotonin activity. These pictures show that the health person’s serotonin activity increased, but the depressed patient showed little response or low serotonin activity. Studies have shown that low serotonin levels can lead to impulsive behavior, such as suicide, overeating, and other aggressive behaviors. Depression is commonly treated with antidepressants, which fall into three categories: tricy...
