Posted by Alan on November 10, 2002, at 14:03:33
In reply to Predictable Responses, posted by meow mary on November 10, 2002, at 12:50:55
> Perhaps you are right about at least being able to predict responses in general. But unfortunately, in this field, I think we see how prescribing the same drugs for the same ailments continually leads to different responses in many people. I think that's part of the unending frustration. At least it is for me. Otherwise I would have walked into my doctor's office 9 years ago and been cured with some samples of Paxil. Instead I have spent the last near-decade trying to fit into some profile which doesn't exist for me-- except that of "Treatment Resistant Depression".
===========================================The root of the problem is that people -- doctors, researchers, patients, relatives, etc. -- so often try to say what "it" is, i.e. to talk about the condition rather than the case. "It" is so many different things, and sometimes several of them operate simultaneously in the same person.
But as long as so many people including supposed experts are saying "it" is this or "it" is that, we're absolutely guaranteed that many or most patients are going to get miserable and quite possibly even harmful treatment. That includes medications, both SSRIs and benzodiazepines as well as others. Each of these is exactly what some people DON'T need.Everyone should be looking more at the individual to see which models are relevant to that individual and which ones are misleading.
It is ESSENTIAL that one remembers this one important fact about your's and other's situation especially in the case of AD's:
Differences in individuals' reactions to antidepressants are so big that it is difficult to state meaningful generalizations about the statistical difference between one drug and another.
That being said, it is still best not to overgeneralise for or extrapolate for the general population based on anecdotal evidence.Alan
poster:Alan
thread:126645
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021108/msgs/127142.html