Posted by SLS on October 4, 2005, at 19:51:00
In reply to Re: Professor at Med School Says Wean off All Meds, posted by Nickengland on October 4, 2005, at 15:24:18
Hi Nick.
:-)
> I think there is truth in the fact that indeed whilst the argument put forward that medication is the answer to go forward to treat mental illness, there is also truth in the fact that medications are not *the* answer to make you well alone.
Tell that to a lithium responder.
> Medication when treating any mental illness will only treat the symptoms...
I disagree with this characterization. When one responds robustly to an antidepressant, there is a global improvement of all symptoms simultaneously. This indicates to me that some core process or processes have been modulated by the treatment such that the illness itself goes into remission. I don't think that the word "cure" serves well to describe treatment success with mood illness. "Remission" seems more appropriate.
> I do not believe they can cure anything but only help you live with the illness better than how you did without the medication before.
You should see the difference in brain function between depressive episode versus remission as imaged by a P.E.T. scan. In relapse, most of the brain appears blue and inactive. In remission, the whole brain lights up yellow, orange, and red. This is virtually identical to the portrayal of a healthy brain. Semantics aside, this person no longer has to contend with any aspect of depression other than maintaining the effective treatment.
I have experienced a full remission. Depression was completely absent. I functioned as if I had no mood illness. I was unbound to begin putting my life and my psyche in order. It is a recovery process. Additionally, being free of MDD does not mean being free of other psychiatric problems. A completely healthy person must work to build a psyche and life that brings them happiness. Problems encountered along the way must be dealt with to overcome. They usually do not disappear by themselves. Why would anyone think for one moment that a drug will make such problems disappear? At best, a drug will bring a depressed individual who has been made incapable of dealing with these problems into a state of remission that will then enable them to. From effective treatment comes health. From health comes problem-solving capacity.
Looking into the future, I believe that our ever-expanding ability to look at how the brain functions through imaging techniques like PET, SPECT, and fMRI will allow for a biological testing protocol that will be able to identify effective drugs for each individual using an array of compounds as biological probes. In addition, genetic microarrays might be able to screen for deficiencies and excesses of particular gene products. This would help identify which genes are turned on and which ones are turned off. A gene-activity profile can be constructed to produce a matrix from which abnormal function can be characterized and treated.
Many of us were born at least 20 years too early.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:562069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051003/msgs/562888.html