[Monoaminergic theories in depressive illness (author's transl)].

The biochemical exploration in man is limited by ethical and technical factors. Results are contradictory and it is only by the mean of the antidepressants used as pharmacological tools that monoaminergic hypotheses have been made. The specificity of action of these drugs is very different from one substance to another and the post synaptic impact of the antidepressants is more important than it was thought before. Finally the monoaminergic hypothesis is too simple and cannot summarize the biochemical factors in depression.