Posted by linkadge on July 21, 2011, at 21:40:27
In reply to Re: Antidepressants without latency - will we ever see them? » SLS, posted by SLS on July 21, 2011, at 7:32:10
I think that there would really be nothing abnormal about an antidepressant that works immediately.
However, people often confuse depression with normal negative moods and experiences. In theory, depression is maladaptive, whereas negative moods (in response to negative stimulii) are not maladaptive.
A fast acting antidepressant doesn't equate to a pill that can be popped to negate the adverse experience of a bad hair day. All of the "fast acting" substances that we have now are abusable. They do act fast, but they also dose dependantly push the mood upwards.
As a result, the press would likely try and sensationalize the actual benefit of such an antidepresant, to helping every and all negative life experiences.
You have to start with the belief that there is actually something *wrong* with the brain in depression. This basic premise gets muddled since appropriate emotional reactions often get mislabled as depression.
A true, fast acting antidepressant, would not be a euphoriant. It would simply have the ability to neutralize depressed moods more quickly than conventional drugs.
I think that certain forms of depression would lend themselves well to a fast acting antidepressant wherease others would not. Stress induced depression, IMHO would not be a good candidate for a fast acting antidepressant. Stress induced depression does not develop overnight, and is associated with many biochemical alterations. It is infeasable (IMHO) to believe that these alterations could all be immediately ammended with a drug.
OTOH, there are other forms of depression which can be classified a primary emotional dysfunction. This is where there is some problem with the brain (not caused by stress), which is generating the depressed mood. For instance, a woman with bad PMS, ie PMDD is experiencing an internal dysregulation which comes on relatively suddenly. PMDD is probably not associated with any of the significant biochemical alterations which as associated with depression brought on by extended stress. Another example would be ultradian cycling bipolar disorder. The patient can feel completely normal one moment, and then be suicial a few hours later. This tells me that there is some dysfunction in the brain's ability to regulate itself. As such, it would be quite concievable that a drug could restore a neutral mood very quickly. After all, the patient was literally fine a few hours earlier.
So, I guess it really boils down to what the problem is, and is the cause of the depression one that requires time for the brain to heal, or is it one where the brain is fine except for....
All cases of depression can appear like an unsolved rubics cube. Depending on the position of the colors, it may be solved in one move, or may take many moves.
Linkadge
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110714/msgs/991544.html