The "Best" Anxiolytic?

[Inds]

Oh, I am not a big fan of propranolol and the like for most anxiety, but if physical / adrenergic symptoms are a major driver then they can be worth a try. Depends on whether physical symptoms are drivers or sustainers. The interplay between physical and mental, other components can lead to panic and reactivity differently from dealing with something after panic has begun. Not all anxiety is panic, and long-term general tension can be insidious.

Yeah, sounds useless. The only panic attacks I ever had were drug-induced, and it seems beta blockers don't remedy those either to begin with.

Certainly dopamine can be linked and a modulator of anxiety, even separate from metabolism into noradrenaline. D1 signaling, agonism say, in the amygdala can modulate fear and anxiety adversely while similar agonism in the PFC can be anxiolytic. (Say hypofrontality in anxiety vs. Enhanced frontality.) As a modulator dopamine may have quite individual effects depending on underlying circuitry, glutamatergic etc...we all can be a little different in our reactions. Thus driving development of partial agonists in schizophrenia, like cariprazine, lurasidone and such.

Jesus... this really is a mindfuck. So one neurotransmitter can be metabolized into another, I didn't even know that was a thing. I did know Mexidol's action was mainly of a dopaminergic nature, which can be problematic as drugs that increased dopamine levels in my brain made me irritable but I didn't expect the adrenergic feelings I got. It's why I avoid SNRIs like the plague. On the other hand, Mebicar which lowers norepinephrine levels made me unmotivated without any relaxing effects so I only know too well how complicated all this is.

I think some therapies for ocd/ anxiety explicitly go against "controlling thoughts" in a deterministic sense, working on instead modifying what we do with them and how we act. Moving away from an adversarial view of thoughts, and black-and-white thinking.

Black-and-white thinking is one of my defining flaws, yup. I try not to consciously think like this but it gets the better of me anyway.

Some are functional, or promote opposite action to what one feels and perceives. Given a set of beliefs how can we function toward our goals, effectively, seeing what really happens. We don't have to say everything is good but can recognize some good in our own actions. Certainly don't have to be ignorant of the badness of many things in the world to work on our own good. It can be easy to discount the danger of fear because of how it drives much of our thinking. Putting ourselves in the world makes us vulnerable, a target, but not participating or acting in the world presents a separate threat. Letting the system beat us by staying out of it is a different kind of loss. I'm not looking to exploit any body in my world, even if I do recognize the competition and struggle that can be present. How can one function in the world at a personal level? What level of functional acceptance or change is possible within our respective areas? Radical acceptance.

Oh I recognize the good in my own actions, the problem is I feel like a minority. Do my individual actions really matter in the grand scheme of things when you can't teach the idiot public to be the same way? Here's an example: on a bench at the mall I had ants crawling up my leg, so did others. The other people kept killing them. I put my hand on my hip until they crawled on my hand and then put my hand on the floor so they can crawl off. Eventually they stopped seeing me as a threat and left me alone. It's things like this that piss me off so much about people, this tendency to be impulsive, judgmental, aggressive, violent, the fact that I can't display the simplest courtesies such as holding the door open for someone without them freaking out. Toxic to the fucking max. One of many reasons why my only means of maintaining any semblance of happiness and peace has been reduced to living in a fantasy world: drugs, movies and video games.

I also disagree that staying out of a corrupt system is letting it win. There's no better way to hurt a system than to boycott it. What do I lose by not giving some corrupt corporations my business? What do I lose by not giving some piece of shit the time of day? Just yesterday someone was murdered in my apartment complex. He was a drug addict but a nice guy, always wanting to socialize with everyone, trying to lend me DVDs, trying to sell me weed etc. He accosted this grumpy fella who lived a few doors down and I noticed them always hanging out together. That grumpy guy just stabbed him to death for no reason that I can fathom on Christmas day, but I suspect it had something to do with the victim getting too familiar with everyone and a personal nerve was hit in the gossip chain. Poor guy, may he rest in peace and may that asshole die in prison.
Do you see the point I'm making here? Imagine if I indulged the victim's naivete and ended up in a triangle with him and some idiot he got too close to? Imagine if I got too close to that asshole-turned-killer? I interacted with him several times, but rarely past the "Good morning, how are you?" formalities. Fucking scary to think about now.

I would argue there are different types of depression, and that just because one doesn't feel the same daily as after an MDMA binge doesn't mean one isn't experiencing depressive symptoms. Even drug induced depressions are different. The tension and lousiness of taking a massive amount of cholinergics differs from potent anti-dopaminergics in my experience, which I imagine is different from post-MDMA withdrawal. Atypical depression is different from melancholic which is different from a mixed state or some bipolar depression.

Are you saying anxiety is a subset of depression?

For the record, the depressive symptoms after that mdma overdose was suicidal ideation and urges to self-harm, which I haven't had since I was a kid. It was over within 24 hours and I remember telling my friend the day after "I'm not depressed anymore! This rocks!" This is why I say with certainty I'm not depressed right now. It feels nothing like that horrible day. If you're saying that disillusionment and lack of motivation are like a mild form of depression, I guess that's true.

 

[checktest]

I would not say anxiety is a subset of depression, no, we can experience states that have elements of both, and they can strongly influence one another. For me personally I have a lot of anxiety when I am depressed in some ways, or become anxious much more quickly.

I don't quite see the point in terms of not engaging with anyone in the balance of bealth. I'm coming from a standpoint of agoraphobia and friends/people with quite phobic disorders. And that friend's relative with schizoid personality. I had a cousin murdered and have seen random tragedies. Where does the balance lie in maintaining contact and keeping skepticism? One doesn't have to be a trusting equivalent of Angleman syndrome to engage with people. And our brains try to highlight threats to a paralytic degree. The horrific car accident doesn't have to prevent ever driving, the plane crash etc...

The safety of not engaging with anyone and living in fantasy /avoidance can be tempting (I've certainly been that way before and didn't even post online), but can be insidious in harm when we do want more in life, whether connections / involvement / new experiences. (I mean some people don't want any connection and are ok like that (Schizoid), but usually avoiding out of fear and yet wanting someone can be different.)

Nothing wrong with not supporting toxic corporations and boycotting bad practices, but supporting good companies / people, engaging with your beliefs can also be helpful. Even setting up ways to go after bad companies and fight after consumer/individual rights. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your view.

I mean, I didn't go out of my house for over a month and struggled with obsessive negative thinking that sometimes I thought was helpful. But in helping at a local homeless place (well, after being hospitalized) I connected differently. Even though there was a lot of bad going on, and I still hated parts of myself, I could make some change. Sure macroscopically there is quite a lot, but we can function in our temporal, microscopic realms to begin what we can. How are we not of that public if we put ourselves out to there? Perhaps we don't affect the grand scheme but we can affect some of our personal schemes. In time perhaps. Or something like that. I know I would not have helped and met some of my friends if I stayed where I was.

Got a little off topic. I apologize. I get it.


Yeah, dopamine beta-hydroxylase does DA to NE. Psychiatric drugs and interactions with individuals are quite fascinating in their diversity.

 

[polymath]

It makes sense. I've had a far worse life in my younger years (being homeless, involuntarily committed to mental hospitals etc.) yet I recall them as the better times. Happier, much more confident, creative and so on. Today I'm financially secure yet I've never felt more anxious. It's plausible that being younger and having higher testosterone produced that perception.

I had some really bad anxiety during the years when I had an abnormally low testosterone level because of wrong kind of antipsychotic medications that were prescribed for me. If you have paranoid schizophrenia, you probably have that kind of meds in regular use, too. Olanzapine is one atypical antipsychotic that has quite little effect on hormones, while risperidone is one of the worst.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Certainly dopamine can be linked and a modulator of anxiety, even separate from metabolism into noradrenaline. D1 signaling, agonism say, in the amygdala can modulate fear and anxiety adversely while similar agonism in the PFC can be anxiolytic. (Say hypofrontality in anxiety vs. Enhanced frontality.) As a modulator dopamine may have quite individual effects depending on underlying circuitry, glutamatergic etc...we all can be a little different in our reactions. Thus driving development of partial agonists in schizophrenia, like cariprazine, lurasidone and such.

If D1 receptors in the amygdala exists...

 

[checktest]

Absolutely, @AlphaMethylPhenyl I should rephrase or mean D1-like signaling from dopaminergic agents. Representing the diversity of responses from the same drug in different areas. It is quite interesting.

Contribution of Dopamine D1 and D2 Receptors to Amygdala Activity in Human

Several animal studies have demonstrated functional roles of dopamine (DA) D1 and D2 receptors in amygdala activity. However, the contribution of DA D1 and D2 receptors to amygdala response induced by affective stimuli in human is unknown. To investigate the contribution of DA receptor subtypes...

www.jneurosci.org

Amygdala Dopamine Receptors Are Required for the Destabilization of a Reconsolidating Appetitive Memory

Memories are not fixed in the brain, but undergo experience-dependent updating and modification through reconsolidation. This occurs when a memory is converted to a labile state, usually involving surprise (formally, prediction error), which is in turn ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dopamine D1-like receptor signalling in the hippocampus and amygdala modulates the acquisition of contextual fear conditioning - Psychopharmacology

Rationale Dopamine D1-like receptor signalling is involved in contextual fear conditioning, but the brain regions involved and its role in other contextual fear memory processes remain unclear. Objectives The objective of this study was to investigate (1) the effects of SCH 23390, a dopamine...

link.springer.com

Better term

 

[scatterday]

Opiate abuse or use is also another common cause for low testosterone.

 

[Inds]

I had some really bad anxiety during the years when I had an abnormally low testosterone level because of wrong kind of antipsychotic medications that were prescribed for me. If you have paranoid schizophrenia, you probably have that kind of meds in regular use, too. Olanzapine is one atypical antipsychotic that has quite little effect on hormones, while risperidone is one of the worst.

I don't take antipsychotics, I may as well just get lobotomized if I wanna go that route. Risperdal is the worst, I got force-fed that shit for 2 months as a teen. I could barely add and subtract even because of how bad it fucked my brain up, it took over a year to return to normal. Never again. That's why I'm just focusing on obliterating anxiety right now. If I can get that under control, the other symptoms become manageable and I believe I can lead a functional existence.

Opiate abuse or use is also another common cause for low testosterone.

I haven't used opiates in years. It's temping, because they're excellent anxiolytics, lol.

 

[scatterday]

I don't take antipsychotics, I may as well just get lobotomized if I wanna go that route. Risperdal is the worst, I got force-fed that shit for 2 months as a teen. I could barely add and subtract even because of how bad it fucked my brain up, it took over a year to return to normal. Never again. That's why I'm just focusing on obliterating anxiety right now. If I can get that under control, the other symptoms become manageable and I believe I can lead a functional existence.



I haven't used opiates in years. It's temping, because they're excellent anxiolytics, lol.

Has anyone suggested Kratom yet?

If you feel as though opiates are excellent anxiolytics Kratom would be right up your alley.

 

[KS78]

If it can't even stop a panic attack, why would it be useful for anxiety?

This question doesn't make sense. It could be logical if you changed the places of "panic attack" and "anxiety".
It sounds like you could use CBT instead of utilizing chemicals for your problem. I know nothing better than benzodiazepines & opiates for anxiety. If one has a really serious case of anxiety or panic, all the negatives (dependency, addiction, ...) seem like a very low price to pay because these psychological issues turn life into a living hell and nobody (especially if they haven't experienced these prior) understands or shows symphaty. I know people who had great relationships, careers, educational success before suffering from these illnesses but after, everything went downhill till they gained some control (via chemical or behavioral means) over their brains.

 

[psy997]

Hey Inds, just got caught up on the thread.

My suggestion is to find an Analytical Psychologist to work with. Jung mapped out the psyche almost fully IMO, and subsequently mapped the unconscious damn well. The Jungian/Analytical view is also that you can't entrain yourself to have opposite 'everything is great, everyone wants to suck my dick' thoughts, and that there are specific ways to work with the unconscious to catalyze shifts within it. Which again, have been thoroughly mapped. I think you'll find more improvement working with an analyst than you would working with any other kind of modality, considering what you've described here.

 

[Inds]

I don't quite see the point in terms of not engaging with anyone in the balance of bealth. I'm coming from a standpoint of agoraphobia and friends/people with quite phobic disorders. And that friend's relative with schizoid personality. I had a cousin murdered and have seen random tragedies. Where does the balance lie in maintaining contact and keeping skepticism? One doesn't have to be a trusting equivalent of Angleman syndrome to engage with people. And our brains try to highlight threats to a paralytic degree. The horrific car accident doesn't have to prevent ever driving, the plane crash etc...

Hey, pardon me for being an excessive edgelord that day, the murder a few doors next to mine just dropped the little faith in humanity I had. But my point was that the system we live in is so corrupt and creates so much degeneracy that there isn't really a sense of community and I find people that try to pretend otherwise incredibly naive, much like my neighbor who just got stabbed. There are honorable people around but trust is earned in this kind of environment and with me that takes a long time. I don't find that these "pockets" of communities are feasible or sustainable. People try to create networks to help the needy, the homeless and so on. Pockets of stability in a chaotic world where everyone's alienated and fighting over scraps that the elite occasionally throw from their towers. As long as they control our lives and standards of living, none of this changes shit. I'm way past pretending or caring. Trying to fix a broken system is pointless, so is trying to create a sense of community where there isn't.
I just wish these pathetic state of affairs didn't get the best of me.

Yeah, dopamine beta-hydroxylase does DA to NE. Psychiatric drugs and interactions with individuals are quite fascinating in their diversity.

Are you one of those bottom 1% individuals like I am where you can never rely on the label or anecdotal reports for the effects/side fx? It's always fun when something like immodium gives you mood swings, lmao.

 

[Inds]

Has anyone suggested Kratom yet?

It's on my list, yes.

This question doesn't make sense. It could be logical if you changed the places of "panic attack" and "anxiety".
It sounds like you could use CBT instead of utilizing chemicals for your problem. I know nothing better than benzodiazepines & opiates for anxiety. If one has a really serious case of anxiety or panic, all the negatives (dependency, addiction, ...) seem like a very low price to pay because these psychological issues turn life into a living hell and nobody (especially if they haven't experienced these prior) understands or shows symphaty. I know people who had great relationships, careers, educational success before suffering from these illnesses but after, everything went downhill till they gained some control (via chemical or behavioral means) over their brains.

Well, if stopping the physical symptoms of anxiety/panic doesn't actually stop it, what psychological value does it have? My anxiety is pervasive, not serious. I don't get panic attacks without the assistance of stimulants.
I approached a therapist with CBT in mind and it seemed useless, he agreed.

Hey Inds, just got caught up on the thread.

My suggestion is to find an Analytical Psychologist to work with. Jung mapped out the psyche almost fully IMO, and subsequently mapped the unconscious damn well. The Jungian/Analytical view is also that you can't entrain yourself to have opposite 'everything is great, everyone wants to suck my dick' thoughts, and that there are specific ways to work with the unconscious to catalyze shifts within it. Which again, have been thoroughly mapped. I think you'll find more improvement working with an analyst than you would working with any other kind of modality, considering what you've described here.

Hah, sorry for my choice of words. I would've put it a different way any other day. I'll see a psychologist eventually but I have plenty of time before I run out of pharmaceuticals to play with, lol. I think I know Jung too, is he the guy that created those 16 different personality profiles with 4-letter acronyms?

 

[checktest]

Yeah, I understand given the situation and timing. I do apologize for my weird post. Sorry you have to go through that stress for the end of the year.

But yeah, I'm thoroughly skeptical of anecdotal reports, especially online and in reported or uncontrolled settings. I'll see the label as it applies to a general population, but what applies to an individual can be quite different. What they experience may not reflect my reality. Even basic CYP polymorphisms across different populations can have profound effects for some, and those are ones we have easily identified. [I happened to be tested for some and was an ultra-rapid metabolized for CYP2C19 and CYP2D6, among other things.] With our limited knowledge it is still guesswork and trial and error, the complexity of everything that is going on.

Not to mention placebo and nocebo, and the strength of those effects. The studies where people get positive/negative effects even when they know it is placebo, or how much the relative incidence of some side effects happen when people are told about them. Plus allergies, autoimmune stuff, and bizarre reactions like drug-induced lupus and Guillain-Barre. Let alone wacky detox people who can't drink a diet coke for some aspartame but have tomato juice and tolerate all these foods. I have a friend with Crohn's and know of someone with phenylketonuria (both very challenging). Just irks me when people claim some things and diminish those valid cases. Not that it can't be valid in some cases, and there certainly are nutritional problems in our modern diets, but still. I digress.

For me historically I have generally tolerated medicines and had low side effects, but usually minimal positive effects, eventually requiring higher doses for some medications (maybe related to metabolism as above, ABC transporters, or many other things). Even had a psych ask me if I was taking my lamotrigine because my levels were so low (and I was, consistently). Have had to push the envelop.

Then I also tried to hang myself one of the first few days on 2 mg abilify, acting very differently than how I had been, and got hospitalized. Pretty weird getting such a shift even if I tolerated some other APs. Not rare but dramatic for me. I've well tolerated dopaminergic substances like methylphenidate and d2 agonism (also NMDA ant) from memantine since then. Meanwhile abilify has been a saving grace for a close friend over many years. You'll get people not only disinhibited but even hyped up on benzos, paradoxical reactions, and just a lot going on.

I try to approach things more probabilistically now, haha. Not going to expect the worst and drive nocebo nor go in without a care....or overthink it....Sometimes....

I sometimes think loperamide is underestimated for other effects. I mean Bluelight mentions it in astronomical doses but even then. Always something weird out there, haha

 

[psy997]

Hah, sorry for my choice of words. I would've put it a different way any other day. I'll see a psychologist eventually but I have plenty of time before I run out of pharmaceuticals to play with, lol. I think I know Jung too, is he the guy that created those 16 different personality profiles with 4-letter acronyms?

Jung revolutionized psychology through discovery of the Collective Unconscious, Archetypes, the 16 functions the MBTI is based off of, and much, much more. He's one of the most brilliant thinkers I've ever read. He also discovered the process of individuation as is described in religious motifs, mythology, and alchemy.

 

[Inds]

I started Pantogam Active this monday, started with only one pill in case it was Mexidol's bastard child but it wasn't so I took 2 pills (300 mg) twice per day. I feel nothing yet and I'll move on if another week fails to yield results. I am feeling different, somewhat gloomy but this is likely due to an increase in real life drama.

Yeah, I understand given the situation and timing. I do apologize for my weird post. Sorry you have to go through that stress for the end of the year.

Thanks, though it's not nearly as much stress as the victim probably went thru in the last minutes of his life. Things like this really mess with my chi.

For me historically I have generally tolerated medicines and had low side effects, but usually minimal positive effects, eventually requiring higher doses for some medications (maybe related to metabolism as above, ABC transporters, or many other things). Even had a psych ask me if I was taking my lamotrigine because my levels were so low (and I was, consistently). Have had to push the envelop.

I can relate. Do you have trouble keeping on weight? I did all my life.

Then I also tried to hang myself one of the first few days on 2 mg abilify, acting very differently than how I had been, and got hospitalized. Pretty weird getting such a shift even if I tolerated some other APs. Not rare but dramatic for me. I've well tolerated dopaminergic substances like methylphenidate and d2 agonism (also NMDA ant) from memantine since then. Meanwhile abilify has been a saving grace for a close friend over many years. You'll get people not only disinhibited but even hyped up on benzos, paradoxical reactions, and just a lot going on.

See this is what irks me, this lack of objectivity in this field. I asked several psychiatrists/physicians if they can take a blood test to analyze my neurotransmitter levels, they all said the results won't be meaningful. fMRI, brain scan, EEG and others they said would also not be useful for mental illness.

I try to approach things more probabilistically now, haha. Not going to expect the worst and drive nocebo nor go in without a care....or overthink it....Sometimes....

I always expect the worst and always have nocebo. I can be completely fucked up on hard drugs and still not notice a change in my behavior, believing instead that this drug changes the behavior of others around me.
Mind if I steal 'nocebo'? I always wondered if placebo had an opposite.

Jung revolutionized psychology through discovery of the Collective Unconscious, Archetypes, the 16 functions the MBTI is based off of, and much, much more. He's one of the most brilliant thinkers I've ever read. He also discovered the process of individuation as is described in religious motifs, mythology, and alchemy.

I took the test just now. The questions were often way too broad and demanded binary answers so I couldn't meaningfully choose. The results said I'm a natural leader and that I'm very orderly, routine, organized guy who fantasizes about the future. That gave me a good laugh, nothing is further from the truth. I can't be a leader because I can't relate to people so I can't be confident about leading their lives. I TRY to be very orderly and routine but this is because my natural state is a chaotic one so my insistence on ultrastability is an act of overcompensation. I procrastinate and overthink so much that things easily begin to pile to a mess. The only letter of this INTJ that's accurate is the introvert part, that I can't argue with. The test presented logic and intuition as if this is the only choice to make in life. I try to be logical but after seeing how this corrupt system is the master of logical absurdity, it really forced me to reevaluate if anything in the natural world is or can be logical to begin with, so I try to trust my gut instinct all the same. I really don't know. To make sense of this world, you have to assume it makes sense to begin with, and it doesn't, least not to me.

 

[psy997]

I took the test just now. The questions were often way too broad and demanded binary answers so I couldn't meaningfully choose. The results said I'm a natural leader and that I'm very orderly, routine, organized guy who fantasizes about the future. That gave me a good laugh, nothing is further from the truth. I can't be a leader because I can't relate to people so I can't be confident about leading their lives. I TRY to be very orderly and routine but this is because my natural state is a chaotic one so my insistence on ultrastability is an act of overcompensation. I procrastinate and overthink so much that things easily begin to pile to a mess. The only letter of this INTJ that's accurate is the introvert part, that I can't argue with. The test presented logic and intuition as if this is the only choice to make in life. I try to be logical but after seeing how this corrupt system is the master of logical absurdity, it really forced me to reevaluate if anything in the natural world is or can be logical to begin with, so I try to trust my gut instinct all the same. I really don't know. To make sense of this world, you have to assume it makes sense to begin with, and it doesn't, least not to me.

The MBTI has nothing to do with Jung or Depth/Analytical Psychology other than the fact that it's based on functions originally described by Jung. That test is 100% irrelevant to engaging in analysis with a trained Analyst. Hell, you'd get more reading Ego and Archetype or Man and His Symbols than you would that test.

Not to be condescending, but the field of Depth/Analytical/Jungian Psychology is IMO the most advanced and accurate mapping of and therapeutic system of working with the psyche ever created. The process of analysis and individuation is not to be taken lightly nor engaged with easily.

 

[Inds]

The MBTI has nothing to do with Jung or Depth/Analytical Psychology other than the fact that it's based on functions originally described by Jung. That test is 100% irrelevant to engaging in analysis with a trained Analyst. Hell, you'd get more reading Ego and Archetype or Man and His Symbols than you would that test.

Not to be condescending, but the field of Depth/Analytical/Jungian Psychology is IMO the most advanced and accurate mapping of and therapeutic system of working with the psyche ever created. The process of analysis and individuation is not to be taken lightly nor engaged with easily.

I see, I shall inquire about it when the time comes.

You need to stop hating drugs becouse you will be ended with nothing, every drug have its bad side effect you need to accept them like you accepted the good effect.

I hate myself if anything. I wish I could be the normal, typical person who can just look at the box and immediately find something that works. When you're incredibly weird like me, you have no idea how anything will affect you until you try it.

 

[Hezman94]

Pregabalin
Diazzepam
Gabapentin
Baclofen does help and potentiate gaba and pregs
Pure cocaine
Alcohol can be
A walk outside
Passion flower is really good

 

[checktest]

I agree, IM. I did feel that low dose APs like risperidone helped with some manifestations of that analysis paralysis and sense of perfectionistic / persistent dissatisfaction / ruminative thought spirals. Memantine helped me as well. Kind of like a pure-o thought pattern with self-hating as a response to perceived uncertainty, in the setting of whatever beliefs and psychological frameworks there may be. And then sometimes wanting to injure or off oneself, in my experience.

Nocebo is absolutely a thing.

Yeah, I've been on the thinner end with a "fast metabolism". I still think maybe 50% of people who say they have a quick metabolism don't really know how much food they intake over time, or discount the amount of activity they have, or have factors like growth/absorption/mood disorders affecting weight. (I have this conversation with a thin friend. Like yeah, you are eating a whole large pizza...but you didn't have lunch or breakfast or any snacks.). Then again my Dad eats fairly atrociously (on a statin) and remains at a great BMI.

As for EEGs and many of the MRI/imaging technologies, there still needs to be a lot of research for consistent clinical validity and implementation and . So much intra and interpersonal variation, let alone site/observer variation. Literally people living fairly normally with half a brain, yet others have lesions that change greatly. Replication has been an issue, along with neuroimaging study design (who is included or not).

It really remains an academic endeavor rather than a functional clinical reality for some psychiatric imaging at this point. I've participated in a couple studies, including an imaging one with ketamine and some rTMS, having had a series of comparative MRIs because of seizures. Nonspecific enlarged ventricles and a borderline EEG. Functionally, psychiatric treatment adjustment from neuroimaging and biomarkers hasn't crossed over for regular or clinically efficient treatment. We can only hope to contribute and learn more, always some promising stuff out there.

 

[Inds]

Risperdal is great if you enjoy being a zombified limpdick with down syndrome. My current dysfunction is far preferable to being in that state.

Yeah, I've been on the thinner end with a "fast metabolism".

Hah, how did I guess. I personally don't eat a shit-ton but that's part of the problem, I have neither the desire nor capability to eat that much. If I tried, I would feel sick. Food is not a visceral experience for me like it is for most citizens of Western civilization. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather be skinny than be a fat fuck. But how will I ever inject subQ this way? lol.

Replication has been an issue, along with neuroimaging study design (who is included or not).

Yes, those are almost the exact words the doctor gave me. "Not replicable". When I asked him to clarify, he said that you can do two scans of the same person minutes apart and still get drastically different images. "So what the fuck is the use of this thing then?" I asked. He said for physical things like tumors. And yet for over a decade I kept constantly hearing about these non-replicable, non-useful results being used in all kinds of studies to support all kinds of theories. Why?

I too hope they find an objective way to study the brain, but I'm not holding my breath. That would only be the beginning, yet many of us won't live to see even that. After that it's reverse engineering time. Cracking a tiny program can take years, who knows how many fucking bytes a human brain contains. I don't see that happening, ever.