Posted by linkadge on April 7, 2006, at 17:27:15
In reply to Re: Drugs versus Psychotherapy - Backlash? » linkadge, posted by SLS on April 7, 2006, at 16:09:08
>I have a problem with those claims made that >exercise is as effective as pharmacotherapy for >treating bipolar and endogenous depressive >disorders. If it were, I doubt we would see so >many people visiting this website looking for >advice and support. I also doubt that we would >have so many people visiting psychiatrists and >taking antidepressants. It's not like exercise >is the best kept secret in psychiatry.
Why is obesity on the rise? Clearly the use of exercise is declining. I don't believe that everybody on this site has given what proponents would consider a fair trial for exercise.
*As effective* is also hard to quantify. For instance, in the zoloft vs. exercise clinical trial in MDD, zoloft produced vastly superior results in the first few weeks. However, the margin decreased slowly over a month or two. Shortly after this, the exercise group was winning on almost every parameter. This continued for the duration of the trial. So while medications may seem to be ahead at first, we need to look at the longer term picture. Antidepressant poop out for a lot of people with major depressive disorder. When the drug solution is as hazy as it is, then a closer look at alternitives may seem to be benificial.For some, exercise will not be as effective as medications, but for others it will be. But in terms of sevaritly, I don't think that exercise just stops at a certain level. The same thing goes for SJW. I think a lot of drug companies wanted us to believe that it was only effective in mild to moderate depression. Over in Europe there are a lot of trials showing it is helpfull in severe depression.
Bipolar disorder is a different story. Exercise is not an antimanic agent. Bipolar depression can (not always) respond to exercise, just like it can (not always) respond to drugs.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:629584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060403/msgs/630246.html