Posted by brian on June 14, 2000, at 17:37:11
In reply to Re: The Best we can hope for is distraction, posted by Johnturner77 on June 14, 2000, at 12:55:48
> > > >
> > > >> I suspect what CarolAnn really was asking was; is there a natural substance, that when taken over time, awakens the ability of the brain to experience pleasure and enhances the drive for reward?>>
> > >
> > > BINGO! Johnturner77!
> > >
> > Perhaps the best we can hope for is distraction.
> >
> > Awhile back I took some Valerian Root for awhile. Several times I had what was for me an eye opener. When I found something funny or pleasureable I felt a(for me) powerful alien surge of happiness. I said to myself, "self, this what it must mean to not be depressed". I don't want to be a zombie with a frozen on smile, just experience happiness appropriately. Unfortunately, whatever mechanism blocks normal pleasure managed to figure out how to circumvent this latest attempt to reprogram it.
I'm with you there, JT77. As a veteran of SSRIs, I've many times experienced the fading of the flush: two days of simple happiness followed by a trip back down to what I have often considered my "normal" state. Perhaps all we can ask of medication is that it regulate, as sails regulate the course of a ship. The ropes pulling the sails keep us on course, but we must always be alert; pulling when necessary, switching ropes... ah, so much for that analogy.It's a great relief to me that others can share the frustrating experience of trying to relate our pain to "normals." It's like Louis Armstrong said to some reporter who asked him to define jazz: "Man if you have to ask, you'll never know." And I defy anyone not afflicted with serious depression to stand in my shoes for a day. The only thing a bubble bath will accomplish is the wrinkling of their fingertips. Perhaps all we can ask for is empathy and respect.
One observation: this room is not a microcosm of society, namely because everyone here is suffering from at least one psychological disorder (or brain malfunction, or mere participation in this awful society, etc.). I believe that 100 percent of the population on this board falls into the minority of the population affected by mental "distress." And whatever the cause, this level of distress cuts far deeper than it does for the majority of the population. Because of this, I don't take much stock in the Megadeth-like grand condemnations of capitalist-society-as-cause with any seriousness. If the machinery of capitalism or some dehumanizing aspect of modern society is the root cause of my mental illness, well, then I may as well check myself into the nearest Russian novel.
poster:brian
thread:36828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000610/msgs/37306.html