Usually, from what I remember, they target the enzyme that breaks down the “happy molecules” that your brain secretes; leading to the happy stuff persisting longer in the brain.
Our brains have an intricate punishment/reward system to keep us doing the actions that the brain thinks it likes, like eating chocolate - even if the ‘happy’ person eating that chocolate is already 300 lbs..
“... the mechanism of action of these antidepressants is well known.”
There’s no argument about that. In fact they do know them, and know the very harmful things they do, and still use them.
What is not known, is any chemical or physical disorder of the brain that causes, so-called, psychological problems as “brain disease.” (Brain diseases there are aplenty, but they can be detected by physical examination and treated physiologically, if they can be teated at all. There are exceptions here too, such as Lewy Body dimentia which cannot be absolutely diagnosed except by autopsy, which is a bit late.)
“Our brains have an intricate punishment/reward system ...”
Yes, but it’s only at the physiological level. Psychologically it works emotionally, and is developed through learning and habituation...but that is philosophical and I know you have no use for that, so I’ll stop.
Hank
By the way, have you been following the discussion with LeGrande about falsifiability?
One reason I question the current evolutionary hypothesis is just that. What is the test that can be made to prove it false if it is false? That does not mean it is not true, only that it cannot technically be called science. Just questioning what you think about that.
Hank