Posted by BrittPark on December 12, 2002, at 23:29:30
In reply to Re: Drunk on Zoloft?, posted by Simon Sobo MD on December 12, 2002, at 21:22:51
First, please be civil.
I seem to value MRI and PET scan studies more than you. When the results are obvious they are important because they validate the methodology. They are simply positive controls. However considerably more is being done with brain imaging than simple glucose metabolism tracing (which is valuable in and of itself because some illnesses seem to have characteristic signatures). Researchers are using and trying to find other effective PET tracer molecules to measure receptor density, and activity. Given 5-10 years, brain imaging techniques will be an integral part of psychiatric practice and will result in significantly better outcomes.
My apologies for lack of references. I'm tired now but will hunt them up on medline tomorrow.
One point that I didn't make and should have in my first post is that I believe it's a mistake to dichotomize mental illness into psychological and physiological spheres. Psychological phenomena are physiological phenomena. Drugs can effect physiology which in turn is reflected in changed psychology. Talk therapy changes psychology by changing physiology.
With great hopes for the future of psychiatry,
Britt
poster:BrittPark
thread:123623
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021210/msgs/131592.html