Posted by Sean on October 29, 1999, at 15:15:43
In reply to Dr Jensen protocol, posted by My name isn't missing!!!! on October 25, 1999, at 9:35:08
> This is about the 5th time I have tried to post a new thread and it keeps saying I forgot my name. I don't know what the problem is but here goes. I need to get some input on this.
>
> There is a website for this doctor (WWW.drjensen.com) that provides consultations in treating chemical imbalances with drug protocols, including all of the various medications that have been used in most brain chemical imbalances.
>
> I know if it sounds too good to be true you shouldn't believe it but I am desparate to figure out what medication(s) would be the most helpful for me with chronic depression. Like so many of you I have tried most of the typical AD's but haven't tried alot of the other meds so many of you talk about with such familiarity. I am tired of trying and failing meds. I keep losing big chunks of time doing this and need to find the right med before I run out of time. No I'm not suicidal but sick of depression ruling my life.
>
> This doctor talks about trying various classifications of meds for brief period of time until the right med is identified. Oftentimes, I've told my doctor that when the med is right, I will usually know it in a day or two. This is part of the protocol since you only try meds for brief periods of time.
>
> Has anyone read about this protocol or have any insight into it and if I should pursue it???I went to this sight and found it interesting from
a practical standpoint, but philosophically very
unsophisticated. Dr. Jensen claims to be "The
Psychiatry of the Future" but I'm not convinced.Why?
Jensen is thinking purely in terms of the available
drugs of today and conceptualizing the "problem"
in terms of the transmitter or neural circuit systems
they affect. I'm of the opinion that the current
crop of meds are very crude and have an effect on
some "final common pathway" mediated by the
transmitter systems the drugs affect. I would be
willing to better a large sum of money that very
few people with depression are depressed due to
low serotonin alone. If that were the case, why would
an AD ever burn out? ANd how do we explain the
AD effect of drugs which act in novel or even in
*reverse* to the amine hypothesis. And the fact
that so many different drugs can produce the
same final effect (lifting mood) seems not to
argue for the specificity of the putative
transmitter systems themselves as being the
core problem. More likely a "cascade" of some
sort it put into play by these drugs and getting
this going in a particular person might require
tweaking one neural system or another.So I think Jensen may have developed a method
for testing meds on people, but conceptually he
is off base. We are at the very beginning of
brain science. My money for the actual cause and
treatment of depression is going to be tweaking
the expression of neuropeptides specific to
brain structures which remain to be clearly
elucidated. Key systems are probably the
amygdala, hypothalamus, and perhaps specific
structures in the temporal lobe.This class of drugs, when developed, will be
based on something other than a pharmacological
dissection of patients. Not that working from
the "outside in" is wrong - it must be done and
many lives have been saved. But to pass the
current state of the art off as "the answer" is
to my way of thinking, simply bullshit and
smacks of advertising hype.Sean.
poster:Sean
thread:13841
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991028/msgs/14173.html