Posted by mtom on July 30, 2019, at 8:24:48
In reply to Re: AD effectiveness: Am i under the right impression?, posted by Lamdage22 on July 30, 2019, at 3:00:55
> I think that there are psychoscial factors that are hard to fix biologically.
I agree.
That being said, I think depression is actually a spectrum of diseases & causes. I believe it can be brought on by solely psychosocial factors - as it was with me in first bout of depression years ago.
I also think it can be brought on by biological factors, e.g. autoimmune-inflammatory disorders, celiac (which is one the latter), endocrine disorders, possibly traumatic injuries (e.g. concussions - P-Docs have asked me if I've ever had a concussion, which I have), possibly nutrient factors could contribute to some extent in at least some cases (e.g. diet and/or malabsorption issues), and likely others.
I also think there are likely genetic factors that make some people more susceptible to develop depression from either of the above.
Also I think that depression triggered by biological factors makes one more susceptible to psychosocial factors exacerbating the depression - i.e. if your neurotransmitter/hormones are already out of whack, psychosocial factors become more difficult to deal with.
Even when it is caused by biological factors, I think antidepressants are a bit of a bandaid as I believe disruptions in monoamine neurotransmitters may be secondary effects to another root cause.
These are just opinions and hypotheses, however I've done a lot of reading, including 100's of published research papers. Most don't emphasize the psychosocial factors, but I've read a few that do mention these are harder to treat with medications.
It's all very complex, and the Pharma companies have overly focussed on the monoamine theory because it's all they know, and easier to design drugs that impact these, and too difficult to tease out reasons why these neurotransmitters got out of whack to begin with and then develop drugs to treat what are probably a myriad of root causes. And I don't see how you can design a drug to treat the psychosocial factors when they precipitate or exacerbate the depression?
poster:mtom
thread:1105467
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20190728/msgs/1105509.html