Posted by jd on February 21, 2000, at 21:22:24
In reply to Naltrexone....but how?, posted by Bruce on February 21, 2000, at 19:52:03
Bruce,
No one seems to understand this very well yet, but there are a few possibilities waiting to be better researched. Since naltrexone usually works best combined with an SSRI, there may be a serotonin-opioid connection that goes out of whack in depression, especially when SSRI's "poop out." Blocking opioid receptors might allow a balance in this system to be restored. Along slightly more impressionistic lines, the efficacy of naltrexone in a wide array of addicitive and impulse disorders as well (alcoholism, opiate addiction, bulimia, self-injury, perhaps even things like compulsive gambling) could mean that certain kinds of depression might likewise be rooted in a kind of "addiction" to self-produced (endogenous) opioids. These at least are my best stabs at the question!
best,
jd> Can someone explain to me in educated layman's terms how
> Naltrexone helps depression? It is an opiate antagonist I know,
> but how does this help depression?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Bruce
poster:jd
thread:22974
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000220/msgs/23009.html