Maybe the "dopamine" theory of addiction isn't ALL wrong; ditto on serotonin and depression

 Sometimes, science is exciting indeed.

 For years, starting about the turn of the century, dopamine as "the addiction neurotransmitter" became an ever more peddled idea among simplistic and reductionist ideas of neuroscience — both professional as well as lay.

Given the number of brain receptors for dopamine, that alone made it simplistic. Dopamine does a lot more than trigger desire, or even trigger memories of desire.

Indeed.

It turns out both it and serotonin are ALSO involved in epigenetic controls.

As the author of this Quanta piece notes, reflecting on a recent piece in Science magazine and other things, this would explain, or partially explain, a LOT.

On serotonin, if part of its antidepressant effects are epigenetic, not straight neurotransmitter work, that would explain why SSRIs, and antidepressants in general, take weeks to have effect. This also would probably explain why different SSRIs affect people differently.

Finally, it would add new backdrops to the heritability of depression.

On dopamine, it might further add to why addiction "triggers" can be potent years later. And, as with serotonin and depression, it would add material to the heritability of addiction.

The bigger picture, on evolutionary biology and the extended evolutionary synthesis? This could be a further wedge undercutting evolutionary psychology, as well as deterministic thoughts on volition.

Finally, it would probably add more food for thought for evolutionary development of these and other neurotransmitters, or now, neurotransmitters/epigenetic tags.