Posted by Squiggles on November 8, 2005, at 14:29:14
In reply to Re: Tricyclics and anhedonia, posted by linkadge on November 8, 2005, at 13:43:21
> Some of the smartest doctors who initially discovered the antidepressant effects of the TCA's likened their actions to the amphetamines.
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> When one is taking a drug based on supposed neurochemical abnormalities that may or may not exist, one runs the risk of creating neurochemical abnormaities that never existed.
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> LinkadgeI don't doubt that neurochemical abnormalities
must exist in order to get abnormal mental
states - the question is *what* abnormalities
and if common to more than one mental derangement.Among the head injuries I have had in my life
(not many), two of them, which may have been
cerebrovascular, like encephalic hypertension
in withdrawal from a K when I was sweating for
a year and my head felt "on fire", and the recent
bang on the head concussion--i noticed two
interesting phenomena in both distinct cases:- depression (transient thank God)
- and a craving for citrus fruits which I hate.
It's not a mystery that concussions create
depression, nor strokes for that matter - why? It's not the same as a genetic
marker.As for the craving for citrus, darn if I know.
As Dr. Torrey has said, many diverse factors
from genetic to viral to bacterial to physical
to chemical can result in neurochemical
abnormalities. But in order to have depression,
perhaps the identical neurochemical abnormality
may exist. In analogous terms, you can have
suffer a bruise of the same intensity and the
same duration and call it b1, but the causes
may vary. It's still a bruise.Squiggles
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poster:Squiggles
thread:575925
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051106/msgs/576765.html