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Littlebird
USA
391 Posts |
 Posted - 03/04/2008 : 14:31:28
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There's an article on Psych Central today called "Biochemical Roots of Depression Challenged" regarding a study which says the media has promoted the idea that depression is caused by chemical imbalance in spite of a lack of scientific evidence. The authors also conducted a previous study that looked at pharmaceutical advertisements claiming depression is caused by chemical imbalance, without solid evidence.
An interesting statement from the article: "Still, the National Center for Health Statistics found that antidepressants are the most prescribed drugs in the United States, with doctors writing more than 31 million prescriptions in 2005."
So in spite of the lack of evidence supporting the biochemical theory, doctors appear to be significantly influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, and possibly by the media. Patients seem to believe that if the media states the theory as fact, it must be fact. That's kind of disturbing, but not a big surprise.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/03/04/biochemical-roots-of-depression-challenged/1995.html |
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jjaamm
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2008 : 17:40:17
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| New here, but confused. I believe I have TMS and so does my general practitioner doctor. However, he gave me an anti-depressent to take in addition to getting my mind focused on relieving the stressors, etc. If I am a "true believer" should I not be taking the anti-depressent? Adele |
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Littlebird
USA
391 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2008 : 12:26:00
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Adele,
Dr. Sarno does use medications to help with symptoms until a person can begin to overcome the symptoms with the journaling work and with therapy, if needed. Dr. Sarno's view of depression is that it is not caused by chemical imbalances, but that it may be the other way around, that depression can cause imbalances. The imbalance theory came about because anti-depressants do help some people feel better and the assumption is that they do so by having some effect on the chemicals in the brain. The reason I thought the article might be of interest to some people here is simply because of Dr. Sarno's belief that the chemical imbalance as cause of depression theory is incorrect. I didn't mean to discourage anyone from using medication that they find helpful.
Even though some recent research has indicated that some people who are helped by anti-depressants are experiencing a placebo effect, if the medication helps a person while they work on the source of their depression, then it doesn't really matter if it's just a placebo, it's still benefiting the person. You probably have a goal of eventually being able to stop taking anti-depressant medication, and doing the TMS work should help you move in that direction, but don't feel that you can't use medication while you're doing TMS work.
Welcome to the forum. I've learned so much from the people here, and continue to learn, so I think you'll find it to be helpful as well. |
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Capn Spanky
112 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2008 : 08:42:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Littlebird
..... claiming depression is caused by chemical imbalance, without solid evidence.
Oh no! Tom Cruise was right!  |
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2008 : 17:25:34
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The problem is that pharmaceutical companies imply that the chemical imbalance is some random thing that hits unlucky people due to hereditary tendencies or whatever, no one knows.
Therefore depressives need medication to fix this spontaneous 'illness'.
If it was assumed that the chemical imbalance was due to long-term negative thinking or emotional strife in childhood, and thus could be cured by reading MBP or having CBT then how different things would be. |
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Depression theory challenged--article
