Posted by SLS on September 21, 2006, at 18:29:25
In reply to Re: Nicotine works :s, posted by linkadge on September 21, 2006, at 16:03:02
> If nicotine doesn't help your mood long term, then thats fine. But, what is the use in setting out to discredit those who do find help from the substance.
Gosh. This is indeed an interesting turn of events. That is a very balanced way of looking at things.
Over the last 5 years, I have spent time around perhaps 200 actively smoking people diagnosed with depression in an outpatient partial hospitalization program. These people smoke 2-3 packs a day regardless of their mood state. The only things that get these people well are standard psychopharmacology and psychological support. No amount of smoking seems to help. I am reporting a personal observation. I guess one could argue that they could have been more severely depressed without smoking or that they were not getting enough nicotine.
> Addictive? What speficically do you mean by that? No more addictive than effexor, and if so, explain in what way?
Where did you see the word "addictive" in my post?
> One study is really insufficiant to conclude anything. I'd at least require one failed study for each of ones used in support of nicotine therapy.I think that one bad study got good results. No big deal. They reported what they found. I don't think we are going to find dozens of clinical trials of nicotine as an antidepressant to compare it to.
> Nicotine has already undergone studies in ADHD and Tourettes' syndrome with some promising results.
I am not trashing nicotine as a pharmacological agent. It is a rather elegant drug. I am just saying that it is not an antidepressant. You can theorize why it is. I can theorize why it is not. Those things don't matter one bit. What matters is whether or not the stuff works robustly and persistently.
As for the rest, you are right, there is indeed quite a bit of interest in the potential of nicotine to yield therapeutic benefits in disorders other than MDD. It is a rather elegant drug. However, at this point, I think the few studies indicating antidepressant-like effects with nicotine are somewhat illusory. I could be wrong. It would be great if I were.
I never thought nicotine was the devil.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:687688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060919/msgs/687961.html