Question: If the herbal supplement 5-HTP works, then why do we even use SSRIs anymore?

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Answer #1:

Smoke signals work, but I prefer the Internet. 5-HTP doesn't benefit everyone, and it's always better to have many options rather than fewer.

Answer #2:

Marketing is one big one... doctors and drug companies tell you taht supplements won't work, so you don't buy them

Answer #3:

Tiebuste is kind of right, but not for that reason. The long answer is a bit more than that, though.
Supplements work by giving your body nutrition it's otherwise lacking to help your body do what it needs to do. In the case of 5-HTP, it gives your body the raw materials it needs to make Serotonin, which helps for mood and sleep among other things... but if your body doesn't need the Serotonin (or 5-HTP) as much, it might not make as much as a person may want it to make.

Drugs on the other hand force a reaction that your body may not need/want or it prevents a natural process in the body (which is why there is commonly such a long list of side effects). In this case, the SSRIs prevent your body from "re-uptaking" the Serotonin (processing it back into your body, so it stays in longer than it's supposed to).

The main "benefit" of drugs is that because they force a specific reaction, you'll get that reaction, but with supplements, you might not get any of the desired reaction if you don't need the nutrients. That's why people still take SSRIs if they don't want to worry about if they'll get that reaction or not... although some take it because they don't know of any other options and most doctors don't suggest natural options.
I hope I helped!

Answer #4:

Actually it doesn't work spectacularly. Mediocre at best. There's only a threshold to which your body will convert it to serotonin. Beyond that, it just dumps the stuff, or burns it for energy.

Also, the actual neurotransmitters(eg Serotonin) are more and more being considered a relatively minor part of depression, and more complicated areas involving neurotrophic factors, cell proliferation, survival, growth, and gene expression are now being looked at a lot more seriously. Primarily because not even five years ago the tools to look at these didn't exist.





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