Posted by Tomatheus on December 7, 2010, at 13:31:47
In reply to Re: Thoughts please.... Nardil + Xanax + more » Tomatheus, posted by ace on December 6, 2010, at 23:54:59
Ace,
See below for my responses...
> But I personally felt a tone of anger in that statement. And that is OK. It is OK for people to be angry with each other. But i think on a site like this we must be very gentle with each other. I may be totally off base, and I apologize if I am. I respect your opinion and I hope you do mine.
I wouldn't say I was angered as much as I was amazed that one could hold the view that there is absolutely no evidence for a biological basis of depression when I think it's very clear that there is at least some evidence. I don't think that you're totally off base, though, as I think that the tone of my original reply was inappropriate for this site. I apologize for it and agree that we should be gentle with each other here.
Ultimately, if you continue to hold the view that there is absolutely no evidence to support a biological basis for depression, then I respect you for that. I was hoping, though, that by presenting some evidence that maybe I could convince you that the statement that you made in your original post was not accurate.
> I do disagree. It's an elaboration on my former statement. I am expanding on what I stated, not departing/negating from it in any way I feel. On this site I have said the same thing many times. Sometimes more cogently and articulate, sometimes less so.
I guess the point that I was trying to make was that your qualification or elaboration of your original statement makes room for the possibility that there could be some evidence for biological underpinnings in depressive disorders, while your original statement does not. In other words, just because there isn't data to support the notion that there is a *unified* biological basis for major depressive disorder doesn't mean that studies haven't found biochemical abnormalities in patients with the disorder. As evidenced by the link that I posted in my original reply, there are studies that have found biochemical abnormalities in depressed patients, and this is evidence that there is a biological basis for depressive disorders. It, however, is not evidence that there's a *unified* biological basis for major depressive disorder or any other depressive disorder.
> > I think the key word that you used in this most recent statement is "unified." With that word being part of your statement, I agree with you,
>
> > but I wouldn't expect there to be a unified biological basis for a disorder that's heterogeneous.
>
> but I would think this lends even more credence to my view?I think that what I said lends credence to the view that there isn't a *unified* biological basis for major depressive disorder or any other depressive disorder, but not necessarily to the view that there is no evidence to support a biological basis for depression whatsoever. As I understand it, one of the reasons why major depressive disorder is thought to be heterogeneous is that a variety of biochemical abnormalities have been found to be associated with the disorder. Does this heterogeneity refute the possibility that there could be a *unified* biological basis for major depressive disorder? Absolutely. It would be impossible for there to be a unified biological basis for a heterogeneous disorder. However, I don't think that the heterogeneity of major depressive disorder denies the evidence that has been found for biochemical abnormalities in the disorder.
> Tomatheus, thankyou for your post. You voiced an opinion honestly and sincerely, and didn't sit on the fence. I respectthat. Absolutely no hard feelings this way. Hope the same applies for you. If we do disagree on certain things, that's a good thing I feel. Life would be pretty boring if we all had the same views.
I have no hard feelings toward you, either, and I agree that life would be pretty boring if we all agreed on everything. I too thank you for sharing your views with me, and I wish you well.
Tomatheus
Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Currently taking 5 mg Abilify, 12.5 mg Lamictal, 2.25 mg Hydergine, and four supplements.
poster:Tomatheus
thread:972650
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101203/msgs/972848.html