system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Do drugs like SSRI permanently change the brain chemistry if one maintains the same healthy habits after they ween off? Are they just a way to kick start the brain to better quality of life?
gpt
It's pretty flooring the amount of bad information in this thread...

the synapses eventually become habituated to the increased levels of free serotonin caused by the blocked reuptake and respond by reducing serotonin production, which is why psychiatrists increase dosage over time.

If you were to quit cold turkey, your natural serotonin levels would be depressed, but the re-uptake would no longer be blocked. In other words, not much would be produced and that which was produced would be taken back up, tanking your available serotonin.

Weening off manages this process in the exact reverse of how the patient got habituated in the first place, and the brain will gradually increase serotonin production as less of its reuptake is being blocked.

There's no evidence that SSRIs "re-train" the base serotonin levels of your brain.

It's possible the behaviors learned eventually result in higher natural levels, but unlikely. There's a reason most people never come off SSRIs.