Posted by Iden on August 2, 2000, at 16:19:57
In reply to Some questions for everyone about depression, posted by Rach on July 31, 2000, at 0:46:53
> 1. Do you believe your depression is biologically based or more mentally based?
*I believe my depression and that of others is 100% biological. We are, after all, biological creatures. Perhaps a better question would have been, "Do you believe your depression is endogenous or exogenous or a combination?" Reactions to environmental causes, like a spouse or child dying, can result in depression but I feel those events change our brain chemistry -- for a time. I also believe that psychotherapy can result in brain chemistry changes. The degree to which we react to these external events may be partly genetic and partly attributable to previous life experiences. So, to a given event, different people can have different reactions.
*I also have the feeling that depression is a symptom and not a disease and with further research the various illnesses that result in the symptom of depression will be classified as certain specific neurotransmitter malfunctions, various synaptic receptor malfunctions, etc.
*The brain is the organ of thought. If our brain is messed up on its own or effected by some other bodily system, it can effect our cognitive processes. "Bad" thinking, of whatever type, must be the result of a malfunctioning brain. I see no way out of this conclusion.
> 2. Do you take medications &/or have counseling?
*Currently, I take a single antidepressant for unipolar depression. I have had a fair amount of therapy. When I am feeling good enough, I do not seek therapy. When I am feeling on the down side, I really don't feel much like expending the effort to seek psychotherapy. I believe in good psychotherapy. Some psychotherapists and psychiatrists aren't very good and others are great. It can be a hassle to find a good one and that tends to keep me from looking. Hassles are just what depressed people are not good at dealing with.
> 3. Have you geared your treatment towards what you base your depression on?
*This may be a matter of semantics but I do not know what to base my depression on. My pharmacotherapy is to attempt to alleviate my symptoms of depression.
> 4. If you believe your depression is more mentally based, what events/actions etc. contributed to your depression?
*I really cannot identify environmental causes for my depression. There are many positive things in my life though they don't cheer me up really. I am not in debt, running from the law, alcoholic, have drug problems, have a recent death to deal with, have insane teenagers in the house, have a dual diagnosis, or have physical illness, etc.
> 5. Do you have any blood-relatives with depression?
*I am the last of my family being that I am an only child so were my parents -- plus I am child free. My father drank himself to death, dying just before my 4th birthday, so something was not right with him. My mother was clearly depressed.
> 6. Do you believe in 'recovery', or do believe in 'remission' (or both)?
*People can recover from situationally-caused depression, I believe. Some others, and I include myself, will have a life-long battle. I am 60 and can see it back at age 21 and it could have been there before that. I was officially diagnosed in 1984 by an alert doctor who I was seeing for something else entirely.
> 7. Do you believe you will recover/remiss? (is that the right term?)
*For me, maybe with the life-long use of the right medication, but otherwise, no.
Iden
poster:Iden
thread:41827
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000729/msgs/42032.html