Posted by bleauberry on September 28, 2009, at 18:23:58
In reply to Re: Who Is Peter Breggin?, posted by jillybug on September 27, 2009, at 1:33:05
I think jillybug makes some good points. I wish it were simple, but it aint. As I said in my previous response, psychiatry and Breggin both have pros and cons.
For sure some of us have experienced dramatic biochemical changes post longterm ssri usage. Why or how, who knows. Breggin has some theoretical explanations. My doctor has some similar explanations (stuff like receptors growing in new shapes, receptor densities being permanently changed, gene instructions being permanently altererd, stuff like that).
I personally believe however that all antidepressants are being lumped into the same category as if they were all guilty, when in fact I feel it is the reuptake inhibitors that are the guilty ones. There is something about that mechanism, I can't put my finger on it, that is just so not cool. That's a very disruptive and un-natural thing to do. The MAOIs on the other hand, I fully endorse. Some people have naturally low MAO activity, and they might be the Type A personalities...bouncy, joyous, energetic. Some people might have naturally high MAO activity, and thus prone to depression and fatigue. Adjusting MAO through meds works in harmony with natural processes, whereas reuptake inhibition does not. My hypothetical beliefs anyway.
SLS asked how do we know that we can't test for brain chemical imbalances? My answer to that is because SLS doesn't know. If anyone would know, Scott you would know. And Larry. To the best of my knowledge the closest we can come is to measure neurotransmitters in the spinal fluid. But even so, what does that tell us? The results would likely vary from one healthy person to the next, so would be difficult to extrapolate from. And it gives no clue as to what is going on at the receptor level. Just because serotonin appears normal, how do we know the receptors are clogged with lead or deformed from some environmental or genetic insult? We don't. How do we know the serotonin isn't being contaminated with exotoxins from unsuspected infectious organisms, and that it is that causing the depression not the serotonin? We don't.
Complicated stuff. It could go on forever. The best we can all do is the best we think we should do at a given time. For one person that means psych meds one after another. For another person it means visiting a Chinese herbalist. For another person it means seeing Breggin. For another person it means buying some St Johns Wort. For another person it means joining a gym and running 10 miles a day. For another person it means recalling that tick bite 15 years ago. For another person it means getting the huge chunks of silver out of their teeth.
So as I think about it, any debate between Breggin and psychiatry is actually a microdebate within a much larger picture.
poster:bleauberry
thread:917824
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090921/msgs/918866.html