Posted by Reggie BoStar on January 19, 2007, at 2:11:44
In reply to Bipolar depression, posted by linkadge on January 18, 2007, at 16:24:04
I was diagnosed as treatment-resistant years ago. By the time they changed that to bipolar II, I really was experiencing manic cycles that never happened before.
So in my case, at least, the bipolar diagnosis was not automatically applied when I was diagnosed as treatment-resistant; it was applied when I actually had become bipolar.
I'm not saying a bipolar diagnosis isn't made by many pdocs for someone who is treatment-resistant. I'm only saying that it didn't happen that way with me.
As far as depression being a disease of the "mind" and not the "brain": this can be a conclusion reached only by a "dualist", that is a person who believes that the mind and brain are two separate entities.
For a "materialist", who believes the brain and mind are one and the same, the conclusion that something can affect one and not the other has no meaning.
As someone else in this thread has said, chemical changes induced in the brain by medications can indeed change the way someone thinks. This would suggest one of two possibilities:
1. The mind and the brain are in fact one and the same, as a materialist believes.
2. Even if the mind and brain are separate entities, as a dualist believes, then there must be some degree of dependence between the two. Otherwise, chemical changes induced in the brain would not affect thinking.
Obviously this is open to debate, as it has been since Descartes started making waves with his dualist philosophy. Also, I've only scratched the surface when it comes to pro and con arguments for either philosophy. That's because I only know those two!
Take care,
Reggie BoStar
poster:Reggie BoStar
thread:723718
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070113/msgs/723931.html