Posted by laima on August 12, 2006, at 23:08:21
In reply to Re: Is Kramer right?, posted by Dinah on August 12, 2006, at 20:36:40
Now I understand better- makes sense, what he says. And I'm with you, I've been rather dismayed to not quite have the same brain as I did when I was much younger, too. Now I've got some memory of reading an interview with Kramer- he seemed to be arguing against people who romanticized or somehow belittled depression and other mental illness? Is that right? If that is the case, no wonder he would be heavy with his points. Maybe I'll go look for a copy of this book at the library after all.> What he's actually saying, to paraphrase as best as I can understand, is that people prone to multiple bouts of depression are people who have a defect in brain repair. That's simplifying it a lot. He refers to it as the "failed resilience model of depression".
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> "Depression is characterized by frank abnormalities in the nervous system, such as the changes observed by Rajkowska and Sheline. These defects arise from failures in protection and repair of cells in critical brain regions." is one excerpt.
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> He's clearly familiar with neuroplasticity and the growth of new cells.
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> On the other hand, I think the one thing we know is that they don't know much yet. I've been listening to "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which is basically a story of science changing its mind an awful lot.
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> Yes, his point is that depression is a disease, with physical symptoms like other diseases.
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> I just wonder if he's overemphasizing it.
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> On the other hand, I don't have the brain I used to. :(
poster:laima
thread:675829
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060810/msgs/675961.html