Posted by SLS on August 24, 2001, at 17:13:38
In reply to martin jensen book - Elizabeth, Lorraine, others?, posted by may_b on August 24, 2001, at 11:03:53
> Hi
>
> I ordered this book and showed it to my psychiatrist and my gp. [ Both excellent people. GP especially is very respectful.] Both blew the book off. I am heartened to see Lorraine refers to this book favourably. I am wondering what you think, Elizabeth. Also, what experiences others have had trying to get their doctors to take it seriously.
>
> As I am heading back into another stressful year of teaching unsupported by any psychotropic, I am looking for any help I can get. (I am still too scared of Parnate to go back to it.)
>
> Thanks,
> may_bHi there.
I haven't read the book, but I wanted to say a few things.
The treatment approaches of Martin Jensen, MD are often discussed in this forum. There have been some rather vigorous discussions regarding their veracity and the advisability of using them. These discussions have generally revolved around the concept of screening for those drugs that will be effective for each individual by using short trials of each and choosing those that have produced at least a mild improvement.
I still have yet to encounter someone who has actually implemented and adhered to a 4-5 day drug trial strategy and report an unequivocal robust long-term remission of depression using only those drugs that were chosen using this protocol.
Caveat: It must be taken into consideration that a large percentage of the people posting on Psycho-Babble have not been satisfactorily treated, even when given adequate trials of different antidepressants. Many represent difficult cases that have demonstrated a history of poor response to those medical treatments that the majority of cases in the general population find effective. I doubt I would ever have bothered looking for web sites like this were I to respond well to previous treatments. It is quite possible that the majority of those people who were initially treated using Dr. Jensen's methods are now living happily ever-after and remain invisible to Internet mental health sites.
That being said, I would be hesitant to recommend to anyone that they try to discover which medications will be effective for them by taking each drug for five days or less. I don't believe that there is enough reliable data or scientific investigation into this approach to warrant that it be used as a first-line treatment. Nevertheless, the notion is appealing.
For the majority of people, a significant therapeutic effect from standard antidepressant treatment takes several weeks to become evident. There are some people who experience an improvement during the first and second weeks, but it is more often the case that a response is not seen until the person has been exposed to the drug for at least two weeks. This would represent the minimum amount of time that would pass under the ideal circumstance of being treated with the right dosage of medication in the first place. It will of course take longer if the initial dosage is insufficient.
It is my guess that people who have a history of refractoriness to drug treatment or whose depression is especially severe and chronic will need longer to respond to an antidepressant and need higher dosages. If you don't fall into either of these categories, and you are not in urgent need of relief, it might be worth a try. You could at least choose from those drugs deemed "eligible" by the screening process the one that produces the least undesirable side-effects.
I hope you find what you need quickly.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:76220
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010822/msgs/76271.html