excerpted from Serotonin: How to
Naturally Harness the Power Behind Prozac and Phen/Fen, copyright
(c) 1997 by Syd Baumelpublished by Keats
Publishing Inc., New Canaan, Conn.
Impulsive Aggression and Violence
One of the most consistent findings in all of psychobiology is the link
between low serotonin in the brain and impulsive, explosive acts of violence
(Linnoila and Virkkunen, 1992). It occurs uniformly in mice and men, in
feisty chickens and scrappy alcoholics, in children who torture their pets
and parents who massacre their children (Lion, 1995). In telling contrast,
controlled aggression and assertiveness are associated with high serotonergic
activity.
These findings are of more than academic interest. Serotonergic agents
such as the SSRIs, lithium, progesterone, tryptophan, and 5-HTP have mellowed
or pacified many a beast and many a beastly human (Lion, 1995). In the
lab, acute tryptophan depletion -- and therefore serotonin depletion --
tends to ruffle people's feathers, especially if they have a short fuse
to begin with (Cleare and Bond, 1995). And in clinical trials, both tryptophan
(alone or combined with the serotonergic drug Desyrel [trazadone]) and
5-HTP have helped juvenile delinquents, homicidal schizophrenics (Morand
et al., 1983) and explosive, run-amok inpatients (Greenwald et al., 1986)
learn the meaning of the word "chill."
View
or order Serotonin: How to Naturally Harness the Power Behind Prozac
and Phen/Fen at Amazon.com
Browse
books on aggression at Amazon.com
Search
this site
R E F E R E N C E S
-
Cleare, A. J., and A. J. Bond, "The
effect of tryptophan depletion and enhancement on subjective and behavioural
aggression in normal male subjects," Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 118
(Mar 1995): 72-81.
-
Greenwald, B.S., et al., "Serotonergic
Treatment of Screaming and Banging in Dementia," Lancet, ii (1986):
1464-5.
-
Linnoila, V. M., and M. Virkkunen, "Aggression,
Suicidality, and Serotonin," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 53 (Suppl,
Oct 1992): 46-51.
-
Lion, J. R., "Aggression," in Kaplan, Harold I., and Sadock, Benjamin J.,
Eds., Comprehensive
Textbook of Psychiatry/VI (Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins,
1995)., pp. 310-317.
-
Morand, C., et al., "Clinical
Response of Aggressive Schizophrenics to Oral Tryptophan," Biological
Psychiatry, 18 (5, 1983): 575-77.
|
|
