kaskelot said:What if... what if depression actually is a complex syndrome constituted by several psychosocial components and a blend of neurotransmittor deficiencies, in different patients having different constitution resulting in variances of the same set of symptoms (apathy, lethargy, emotional distress, et al), due to a limited set of possible psychoneural responses to this syndrome?
How would you determine that, scientifically, and then communicate to "most everyone" so that they can "know[..] exactly what it is"?
Does my proposed view of depression seem far fetched and not so in tune with "real life reality"?
The opioids seem nice, because what they do, is to make you feel content and normal. But, they make you feel normal and content no matter what circumstances, so you'll keep all thought and behavioural negatives of the previous depression (if, someone depressed isn't depressed anymore under the influence of opioids, that is) and have no reason to work psychotherapically or with cognitive behaviour therapy or what not that is supposed to make antidepressive substance use unuseful for the patient in the longer run.
To me opioids (or opiates, really) are all fun and games, they are such a bliss every now and then after the poppies have bloomed.
But they are at least as dependence invoking as SSRI's, it's just that in contrast opioids will still be that way even though the receptor level tolerance is counteracted. Because you learn yourself that the opioid medicine is good for you. You don't learn yourself that it is necessary for a while, no, you'll learn that it makes you feel well. And you'll get a spontaneus response to most tough things based on how well this theoretical medicine helped with depression. 'Hm. Much distress for long time. Medicine fixed it. This distress seems acute. Medicine can fix it.' Trivially put, that is.
I fail to see why you do not propose DRI's, or even my all time favourite, the majestic and fantastical racemic amphetamine mixed up with a bit of sugar, as a pill containing tolerance countering substances. They will not only take away most depressions, they will also cause a momentum in life. You want to do stuff when on them, which is the opposite of how you feel when depressed. 'Neurotoxicity, bla bla, bla...' Yeah, but hey, we're talking small doses, right? People won't take more than prescribed, right?
Anyhow. SSRI's work great in people with depression, most of the time. But they don't work in people who just feel depressed. And the latter shouldn't be treated with drugs.
The latter should be treated with meditation or daily prayers, or some working out, or dietary changes (chelated magnesium, goddammit! fruits and greens 4 life, y'all), or all at once. Designing good life through that kind of hard work that makes it last. No clinically observable depression (PET, MRI, or such, no subjective diagnosis)? No medicine. Visit a priest or therapist.
i myself am really slow and also incomplete at replying on boards, because of depression. so let me take this post for now...
i know you are saying that opioids are a get high drug, a recreation drug, but you forget that the endorphin system of the brain IS involved in mood and well-being so if someone is broken in that system, taking an SSRI doesnt treat them. So i think that the opioid system is more than a system of recreational drugs and severe pain relievers. thats pretty obvious even.
SSRIs work great in depression - for people who are put in the mental health system and still worked a job, still were able to leave their home, still able to function anyway, before they ever even took an SSRI, and then they take an SSRI and nothing changes except their sex life and perhaps some mild benefits, or strong adverse reactions.
SSRIs dont work in the other kind of depression. the kind that has you lying down on the ground begging for misery and torture agony to end on a daily basis. the kind that keeps you in bed all the time shaking legs and stuff. i tried them all, other people like me tried them all. they dont work.
Serotonin isnt even associated with mood as much as people think it is. thats why stablon, a serotonin lowering drug, induces a good feeling. researchers call this a "paradox" but really, no paradox exists.
I really dont know what to say about psychotherapy other than it works on depression as much as it works on narcolepsy, schizophrenia or autism. plus talking to psychotherapists feels very fake, cold and lousy to me but thats besides the point and just me. Maybe im just looking for a bigger difference. talking to pained psychologist doent interfere with sleep problems, a constant unending dysphoric malaise feeling and other effects.
id rather have more aggressive treatment for depression where it is realized that there is a more dire need to treat it at all and any costs. Live free or die. what is there to lose by society trying different mechanism drugs for depression, other than the CIA's cocaine/heroin business being cut into by new medicines?
I fully believe in the ethical philosophy of abolitionism, the kind you see on hedweb.com and related sites by David Pearce.
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otherwise, why are you posting this?