Posted by SLS on June 12, 2005, at 16:48:33 [reposted on June 14, 2005, at 22:17:34 | original URL]
In reply to Exercise for severe depression, posted by linkadge on June 12, 2005, at 15:35:34
> There are quite a number of studies that show that exercise is very effective even in severe depression.
"Quite a number of studies"?These study teams are probably no less biased towards confirming their own hypotheses than any other group in the study of mental illness seems to be. This, indeed, seems to be quite a number. If they were to have used me in their experiments as n=1, they all would have resulted in confirming the null hypothesis.
"very effective"?What is very?
"even in severe depression"?How is severe defined?
This scenario of having exercise be very effective in treating depression does not reflect my own experience with it. Neither 60 minutes of intense anaerobic exercise four days a week nor 60 minutes of aerobic exercise a day has had any impact on my condition. My bodybuilding regime had no positive effect on my condition - which is bipolar depression. Perhaps exercise is more effective for other types of depression.I would not disuade anyone from exercising. It is a habit that yields positive effects in many ways. For some, it might even bring them into remission from whatever depression they were suffering from. However, I recommend to anyone for whom exercise does not help that they do not think less of themselves or in some way feel lazy or inadequate. You are simply an exercise non-responder.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:512835
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20050411/msgs/512836.html