Is depression an autoimmune diease of the brain?

Medical science does not know for certain exactly what causes depression. Drug companies encourage doctors and scientists to call in a chemical imbalance, because drug companies sell chemicals. But no one is certain what causes it. Some doctors and scientists are beginning to think it is one of the approximately 80 autoimmune dieases that affect the body and the mind. It would explain a great deal. It would explain why people with psychosis or schizophrenia suddenly become well: the immune system shuts down. It would explain why people with AIDS never experience depression or an increase in depression: no immune system. It would explain why anti-depressants are the best prevention for heart attacks: they dampen the immune system in the brain and around the heart. They are finding that hardening of the arteries is largely caused by the immune system which results from stress. Many dieases are being linked to an autoimmune diease of the brain: alzheimer's, MS, anorexia, Parkinson's.

Autoimmune disease is the failure of the body to recognize its own constituent parts. Depression results from a failure of chemical synapses in the brain. These synapses typically fail to produce enough excitatory neurotransmitters (Serotonin, Norepinephrine, Dopamine) or the receptors on the postsynaptic cell for these neurotransmitters are damaged.

For instance, anti-depressants (Prozac, Zolof, Paxil) are all SSRI's (serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors) which sustain the neurotrasmitter in the cleft for a longer period of time.

In conclusion, depression is not an autoimmune disease, but rather a chemical imbalance in the brain produced physologically or psychotically.