Posted by DAisym on December 14, 2007, at 13:09:44
In reply to Re: Healing versus Curing » Daisym, posted by antigua3 on December 14, 2007, at 7:09:47
The debater in me would counter - "just because something comes back doesn't mean it wasn't cured. Colds are frequent but each individual cold begins and ends and is ultimately cured. The next cold is unto itself." If you go about seven years between bouts, even a cancer would be declared "cured" at that rate. So it is totally subjective.
I think, like most diseases, depression has a spectrum. There are types of depression, like post-partum depression or situational depression, that can be cured. There are other types, like chronic, likely chemically (brain) driven, kinds that go into remission and are managed.
What I still find fascinating is the research that shows over and over again that depression responds "best" to both medications and therapy. If it is purely biological, why not just medication? If it is purely psychological, why not therapy? We, as a species, (but probably not here on Babble) continually underestimate the power of the brain to change our physiology. And we also underestimate the power of the "body" to make changes in the brain. Rarely is it any one thing...
But you know all of this - look who I'm lecturing. :) I wish the psychology world in general was as sophisticated in their thinking as we are here.
poster:DAisym
thread:800622
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20071204/msgs/800780.html