Posted by utopizen on November 12, 2006, at 9:43:15
In reply to Re: Trying Emsam., posted by SLS on October 28, 2006, at 8:26:45
>I had taken Parnate with nortriptyline not too long ago. 20 years ago, that would have kept me up all night long. Now, I sleep right through the night. My brain has become numb to these drugs.
>If only brains could become numb at times... oh, don't be so optimistic! You're suppose to be depressed, remember? ;)
Actually, sleeping is a lot less complex that we'd like to imagine it is in our heads.
While drugs can certainly affect sleep, so can behavior as well. And as my psychopharmacology said, "Give me a lab rat to condition and give me all the drugs you want, and conditioning will beat it out every single time."
He was of course referring to insomnia and stimulants... a girl in my class was asking why her friend, who apparently took 4 cups of coffee prior to sleeping "to sleep" and has AD/HD was having some paradoxical reaction due to his AD/HD.
As someone who's had quite a bit of insomnia, been through the insomnia pills, thought they 'didn't work' just because they didn't force me off into sleep... trust me. Your body is quite capable of conditioning itself.
What has basically happened is that your brain has proven it is more resilient than the 1980's "This is Your Brain on Drugs" ad would have liked you to believe.
Unlike an egg, your brain has quite a bit of plasticity. Plasticity basically means what it sounds like-- it can take quite a few "beatings" or challenges, view these as challenges, and use the experience as an opportunity to adapt and become all the more stronger for it.
"What doesn't kill you..." might sound cliche, but more and more, the science is proving this. Two days ago, kids studied at 6 and later at 18 with higher IQ's ended up with a lower incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among those who experienced a traumatic episode than their counterparts in the study, who had lower IQ's.
What this means is sort of anyone's guess, but it does seem to at least point future research into determining how cognitive processes become more adaptive through difficult times.
So yes, your brain is more powerful than any drug. Which may explain why drugs often don't work without combining it with cognitive behavioral therapy... and this is a beautiful thing. It means drugs can only really go half way... cognitive behavioral therapy helps the drug finish the last half of the race in restoring hope.
poster:utopizen
thread:698340
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061110/msgs/702776.html