Posted by bleauberry on January 14, 2014, at 8:30:08
In reply to Re: Suicide Attempt - SLS » bleauberry, posted by SLS on January 11, 2014, at 13:09:34
I like that. I mean, it's a step in the right direction. Things are way to complicated and interwoven, it wouldn't be that simple, but indeed could help clarify the clinical picture and give some generalized direction to treatment strategy, rather than just basically guessing.
> 13 years ago, I posted on the ASD newsgroup and rocked a few boats while I was there. One of my more significant contributions was to propose using biological probes (pharmacological challenges) to determine the nature of the mental illness being diagnosed, the location in the brain of the anomalies, and which drugs would be most likely to elicit a robust therapeutic response with minimum side effects. For instance, one might be subject to a PET scan and given a series of compounds and record what parts of the brain "light up". It is likely that Prozac and Wellbutrin will produce intraindividual and interindividual differences in brain activity. This protocol would not be limited to marketed drugs. A drug like ritanserin might be the best probe to assay 5-HT2 receptor function and to what degree the PFC lights up. The PET scan can even be active in that the subject is asked to perform various mental tasks during the procedure. There is probably a task/drug association that would indicate diagnosis and the classes of drugs to explore clinically.
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> Only a guess.
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> - Scott
poster:bleauberry
thread:1058186
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140104/msgs/1058529.html