“‘It appears that SSRI antidepressants rewire areas of the brain that are important for thinking and feeling, as well as operating the autonomic nervous system…” — study leader and neuropathologist Dr. Vassilis E. Koliatsos (Yahoo News!). This finding supports new thinking over the last few years, backed by imaging studies, that major depressive disorder is not just a “chemical imbalance” disease (i.e. the classical theory of neurotransmitter imbalance in brain serotonin and/or norepinephrine, the original notion of what it is that antidepressant medications correct). We now think that persistent depression may actually involve neurodegenerative brain changes — and that prompt treatment and sustained remission is neuroprotective.