Posted by bleauberry on December 14, 2009, at 18:01:39
In reply to Atypical Depression versus Bipolar Depression, posted by SLS on December 14, 2009, at 7:26:02
While I understand we as humans have an inborn need to understand and categorize things as best we can, I have not seen DX terminology serve a worthy purpose in the majority of pbabblers in guiding the journey to the proper medication.
More often the opposite happens. That is, for example, someone who has been DX'd with depression by 3 different doctors for the last 10 years tries a stimulant. Suddenly they are reborn...depresssion gone, social anxiety gone, focus returned, motivation returned, attention, energy...and walla, the DX is changed to ADD instead of depression. I mean, come on.
Obviously a cherry-picked example to make the point, and of course it can be debated from any angle with other examples, but you know what I mean. It can vary anywhere from subtle to dramatic from patient to patient.
DX terminology, I feel, is interesting but really doesn't serve a respectable clinical purpose. It makes doctors and patients feel better, that's about it. It satisfies their need to give something a name. I just don't see that it chooses the right meds very well.
At its very core it is flawed, because it immediately sends the patient on a narrow road of accepting a brain disease, when in fact no effort was made to rule-out other obvious causes of those exact same symptoms.
poster:bleauberry
thread:929182
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091206/msgs/929239.html