Posted by undopaminergic on October 9, 2020, at 8:05:48
In reply to Re: Anxiolysis does not need to be addictive » undopaminergic, posted by linkadge on October 8, 2020, at 16:33:14
> >The situation is quite different after you have >been depressed or anxious for a long time. Maybe >addiction is the wrong term, but you can easily >get dependent on remedies (including drugs) that >make you feel better.
>
> Right, but you have to separate something that selectively addresses the root problem, vs something that just activates your reward system and makes you temporarily forget about your anxiety.
>
> LinkadgeWhile I agree that that is a meaningful distinction in itself, I don't see how it makes any difference in practice, as to whether you get dependent or not. In both cases, there is symptom mitigation, regardless of whether it works on a deep or superficial level. Symptom relief is, in relative terms, rewarding.
As an example from my own experience, let us say (m)ethylphenidate is a stimulant and trimipramine is an antidepressant. Let us also say, for the purposes of this exercise, that trimipramine works on the root cause and the stimulant is just, for lack of a better word, stimulating. Even if this were true, I don't see how it makes a difference, from the point of view of my desiring to continue either treatment.
-undopaminergic
poster:undopaminergic
thread:1112141
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20200711/msgs/1112239.html