Posted by linkadge on May 28, 2007, at 14:20:56
In reply to To linkadge, posted by deniseuk190466 on May 28, 2007, at 12:33:09
Well, to think of depression as simply a imbalence of chemicals may be simplistic. There are real structural differences about the brains of depressed people.
It may be that the longer one remains depressed, the more pathological the disease becomes. It is clear that the brain you are working with now is not the same one as when AD's worked.
People with panic disorder, for instance, have far fewer 5-ht1a receptors as normal individuals. SSRI's may work by stimulating those remaining receptors, but they are not fixing the problem.
Perhaps the problem continues to get worse (ie more 5-ht1a receptors loss) in spite of proper treatment.It could be neurodegenerative. Perhaps its like parkinsons, where dopaminergic cell loss continues dispite treatment with dopaminergic agents.
There are even some studies that suggest treatment with antidepressants worsens the long term outcome for depressive illness. Just like how l-dopa may actually speed the advancement of parkinsons.
Sometimes with these things, hindsight is 20-20. Ie somebody discovers a drug that helps people, and then "oh ya ya, clearly the drug is helping people by affecing chemical x"
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:759825
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070524/msgs/760005.html