Right now, if someone is clinically depressed, we just shoot their serotonin levels higher (SSRIs) without going deeper into the root cause of the lowered serot

Right now, if someone is clinically depressed, we just shoot their serotonin levels higher (SSRIs) without going deeper into the root cause of the lowered serotonin levels. If we could pinpoint the places on that person's pathway of serotonin production and distribution, we could fix just the places that are broken. Essentially, getting the person to function normally with minimal side effects. Not to mention all kinds of problems where SSRIs don't help, are too generic (because it's just certain receptors that are broken, so driving serotonin higher makes certain system go overdrive), or not effective at all at inhibiting the reuptake. If I were to find a tech analogy... Imagine that we fix every car by attaching jet engines on it's back, without investigating the issue deeper. Jet engines will make the car go regardless of whether it's a broken wheel, messed up fuel injection, or whatever else. But, having a jet engine has it's faults, and really sometimes a bit of scotch tape would help and do a much better job. It's just that we need to know where to apply that scotch tape. Finally - right now it sometimes takes people a few years before they figure out the proper medication schedule. It's years of wasted work-hours, messed up relationships and life in general. Even if the cost was $20-$50k per one analysis - if the result was an exact schedule of drugs to take, and delivered within a week or so - it would still be a good investment for most members of society. And the price might not be $20k in the end, but closer to $1k, or less. That's cheaper than ten visits to a psychiatrist, so it ends up better economically compared to current solutions.