Posted by linkadge on August 29, 2010, at 16:48:39
In reply to Re: please be civil, posted by morgan miller on August 29, 2010, at 16:11:20
>Hey linkage, do your really believe placebo is >that powerful to be able to sustain someone for >years? Also, what about the response people get >after being on a antidepressant for 4 or 6 or 8 >weeks, is that a placebo?
Depression is a state that has one of the highest rates of spontanious remission. I believe that a lot of people don't necessarily get better because of drugs, they just get better. Some people believe that Jesus, or Mohammed, or other God is responsible for maintaining their health, wealth and prosperity. Is this true? Perhaps. I can't fully discount the antidepressant effect, only question it.
Its not possible to prove that antidepressants don't work for some. On the converse however, if you chose to try and prove that the antidepressants do work (more than an effect that can be reproduced by a placebo) you will be faced with a greater challenge.
The 6-8 week thing is also not exactly set in stone. Some people feel better the next day. Some people don't feel better after 6 months, its highly variable.
When you subject mice to unpredictable stressors, they will recover on their own if you give them time to do so. In some cases, I think the antidepressant gives you something to do while the depression gets better (or doesn't) on its own. Kind of like when you're waiting for the light at the crosswalk to change, you can press the button to make it feel like something is happening. Or those windows messages that come up after an error asking you if you would like to send an error message. It makes you feel as if something is happening, that you have some degree of control. The wheels are in motion so to speak.
>If the side effects of ADs are not placebo and >are really coming from the ADS, isn't it likely >that the positive responses are coming from the >ADs?
Well that logic sounds reasonable, but you cannot really conclude one from the other. That a person starts to feel better while wearing a q-wray ionized braclet, doesn't mean the q-wray caused the recovery. Furthermore, even if the q-wray caused side effects (say a rash on the wrist) this would not conclude that the supposed effect was real.
>The reality is, antidepressants do work for >thousands of people, minus any placebo effect.
Well thats the debate.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:959693
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100829/msgs/960511.html