Posted by blueberry1 on January 21, 2007, at 18:48:29
In reply to What kind of brain scan proves chemical inbalance?, posted by AdamCanada on January 21, 2007, at 15:20:02
Is chemical imbalance the true cause of depression? No one knows. It could be a defective gene orchestrating everything. Could be DHEA, cortisol, other hormones? BDNF? It could a faulty sending receptor or receiving receptor. Or any number of things.
I had my neurotransmitters tested in a urine test. But what good is that? It doesn't show what's going on in the brain. And since all of our bodies vary considerably in large detail as well as molecular detail, who is to say what 'normal' balances are?
Whatever the cause, antidepressants seem to alleviate it in a slight majority of people. Probably not from directly increasing neuro levels, but from some cascade effect on other brain systems that results from it.
I've done cortisol testing. It's an easy one where you take a saliva sample 4 times in a day and send it to the lab. Lots of things can lower cortisol, such as many antidepressants, benzos, and others.
If something is wrong with your heart, kidneys, eyes, cholesterol, or whatever, no one disputes it. But no, not the brain. The brain is off limits for anything to go wrong with it. It is somehow magically protected. Unless it is parkinsons or alzheimers. But not mood. People who think that way advertise their own flawed logic. Ask them, do certain parts of your brain need to be in good working order to grab the right words in a conversation? To plan ahead detailed activities? How is it that good brain function is needed for those things, but that good brain function is not needed for proper mood? Why is it some people are just naturally overly happy and overly hyper all the time? Could it be they too have some brain malfunction, but that it manifests itself as the opposite of depression?
My family denied anything was wrong with me for years. Now they admit it and accept it. They tell stories of my great great grandmother and her battles of lifelong depression. Back then the only treatment was insulin-shock therapy which eventually killed her.
If those around you dispute chemical imbalance, that's fine. It might not be chemical imbalance. If they dispute anything is wrong with you, that you should be able to just snap out of it, then they are putting their own flawed logic and their own brain malfunctions on display. A person with depression can no more snap out of it than a person with diabetes could.
poster:blueberry1
thread:724841
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070119/msgs/724938.html