Posted by SLS on July 20, 2005, at 2:55:39
In reply to Re: About my post..and Suicide... » med_empowered, posted by Jen Star on July 19, 2005, at 17:54:37
> I think it's dangerous to get too "into" any one method to cure something as fragile and mysterious (even to the best neurologists and researchers!) as the human mind.
It is the brain that seems to be working improperly in most cases of properly diagnosed MDD, and certainly in BD. The mind just naturally follows. Actually, this can work the other way around as well. Actually, both can work simultaneously. However, affective disorders, the brain gets stuck somehow and proceeds to deteriorate further on its own. If you interrupt the cycle of dysregulated brain -> dysfunctional mind by tickling the brain, you sometimes see an almost instantaneous resolution of the dysfunction in mind dynamics.
> If we focus on drugs to the exclusion of religion, meditation, etc, we are losing out.
Any healthy person can benefit from these things. They may not be at all necessary in most cases of MDD, but they can certainly help. I think psychotherapy can sometimes accelerate recovery from depression, and certainly help prevent relapses in many people.
> But I think in general we as a society are starting to overmedicate in general
I think I would agree with you on this. It is a very popular theme at the moment.
> I believe that mental illness is real.It definitely is.
However, I think some people get hung-up in pondering the abstractions of what are normal and abnormal behaviors for a particular culture at a particular time such that they would nullify the existence of mental illness.
> I'm just not sure that our drugs really work to "fix" it.
I think that most of our current treatments probably work by producing compensatative changes in the brain rather than producing a true cure. However, this should not dissuade someone from believing that these therapeutic mechanisms, whatever they may me, actually can produce a full remission, and not simply manage sets of symptoms.
> I hope that as tech. advances, our drugs become more refined and can really help the majority of people.
I'm sure we all do. Damned drugs.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:530123
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050718/msgs/530505.html