Serotonin: Beyond the Cure
University of Sheffield undergraduate bioscience students explore the costs for young people of taking antidepressants.
Antidepressants can play an important role in treating depression, but how do they work and what is the experience of taking them really like?
In this video, University of Sheffield bioscience students explore how antidepressants affect the brain and the benefits and side effects people experience during treatment.
The students surveyed 107 people, including 66 taking antidepressants, to explore how their symptoms changed over time, the side effects they experienced and how beneficial they found their treatment. They also look at why some people decide to switch medication and the role side effects can play in that decision.
Dr Elizabeth Seward, Senior Lecturer in the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences, explains the science behind serotonin and how commonly prescribed antidepressants affect communication between cells in the brain.
By combining the science with people's experiences of taking antidepressants, the film explores why treatment can affect people differently and why understanding both the benefits and side effects matters when considering how well antidepressants work in everyday life.
Credits
- Producer/Editor: Rebekah Jeffery (Biomedical Science student at the University of Sheffield)
- Producer/Cast/Editor: Tehilla Nma Nweze (Biomedical Science student at the University of Sheffield)
- Camera/Editor: Millie Kirrane (Biomedical Science student at the University of Sheffield)
- Director/Editor: Joe G Mathew (Biomedical Science student at the University of Sheffield)
- Sound/Editor: Siti Zulkefli (Biomedical Science student at the University of Sheffield)
- Presenter/Editor: Amelia Kermeen
- Interviewee: Elizabeth Seward (Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield)