Medicine mania..?

To start off on an almost kiddishly defiant note about scientologists and depression; one wonders what they would advocate for mania, in which the symptoms are an exact opposite, the brain areas involved are just on the right instead of the left side in depression, but does not respond to any sort of 'talking therapies'.  Or maybe the psychotherapists believe that there's no such thing as mania, but only reaction formation to depression. :) but of course, in a branch like psychology, being opinionated is considered knowledgeable, and evidence is for poor scientists.

Well, mania and depression may be entirely separate disease entities, but there's
enough evidence to suggest that they occur together or in close succession. Anyway, the point is not to suggest that depression is an entirely biological illness like cancer, but it would also be ridiculous to think that medicines are excessive in  depression. 

The other correlate is that happiness and sadness can be environmentally determined. And for a lot of people, it is the only kind of mood shifts possible. And then, some are able to have their own highs and lows. There is no contention that happiness and sadness can be environmentally manipulated, but it is only when it crosses those broad lines into a persisitent state which we can't help; that we begin to see the need for treatment.

this is the last on the morbid topic. Had thought I'd touch upon it briefly and move on; but it brings up enough bile. Incidentally depression was thought to be due to increase in black bile, by the greeks. And being tangential about greeks, sounds interesting to think that hope was the greatest weapon Zeus used against Prometheus. Bugs me, the issue of hope. anyway, later..

osho

Watch out for the green chillies..

We're back on a mildly academic discussion partly fuelled by something i read recently on a blog and partly by the resistance offered by humanity to the idea of going under anti-depressants. Its not like the psychiatrists want to control the world. . The question is simple, and related to the one on mind control. About what addiction means. Got me wondering if my perpetual messaging is one, and if a certain surgeon having withdrawal sleep disturbance when he doesn't have a slow breeze from his fan is addiciton. SMS addction, sex addiction and other behavioral addictions seem to be well characterized(if we let addiction psychiatrists take over the world, we'll have a lot mroe to be pararoid about) now. And,if u need anti-depressants for a long time, is one addicted to it.. and if we are addicted to coffeee? green chillies..?

It seems that capsaicin, in green chillies has been found to have addictive potential. caffeine has been long known to have some of it. And apparenty all medicines, anti-depressants and laxatives included, produce some alterations in our body that makes the body want it more. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a lot more. Probably the slow breeze from a fan.

It seems that the current definitions of what addiction has do with a state when u can't give up something, and it is causing you some distress. And the difference between our routine 'dependance' on some of our necessities, and alcohol-nicotine-street drugs seem to be the activation of a particular pathway in out brain. (Dopaminergic conenctions from VTA to the cortex, actually). Essentially that the 'dangerous' ones act of these pathways and modify your brain in a way that normal drives are altered. And hopefully our regular addictions don't. We don't know if they do, but till then, we can be paranoid. Or maybe feel good.

osho

The Shrinking Corner..

Difficult to resist the shrink pun. After all, it has helped me through quite a few dinner conversations in the first year of shrinking.. or shrink-ship.
Anyway, here is where I introduce, to my ever increasing readers(i'm trying the laugh-track psychology), the section on the blog devoted to snippets from the madhouse. Like one of my severe OCD patients who decided to get married to a man with failing kidneys and are blissful in their expectably difficult and possibly short nuptial life. Sometimes the cynic garb falls away, and I have to admit that life is really beautiful. And then again we have our paranoid senior resident who is ever-increasingly aware of the fact that his rounds notes get written before his rounds(thank you sir humphrey..), and now has taken to giving us short chits with his diagnoses. But we are grateful to nature for having provided him with a short attention span which amply protects us against his wrath on the next week rounds. And then there is the politically incorrect manic lady in the closed ward who has decided that my Hindu name is unbecoming and bestowed me with an appropriate christian one.

more later..

Back to some cribbing about workouts. Difficult to resist the topic, since my instructor has chanced upon some nice and rounded fat deposits which I was nurturing with tender loving care, and thrice weekly chocolate ice cream; and bang goes my dinner. Think i've come to realize that if I have to give up chocolate to look good, it'd be a serious distortion of priorities. And downright madness.. Boyfriends can raise their eyebrows, but the hedonistic lobes of my brain might just hemorrhage and die. Shrink up probably.

osho

Mind control

We're back on the subject of primacy of our mind, and it being the defining character of our identities (yeah, yeah, it is obvious...).

This friend of mine and I were having this chat on depression and I was slightly taken aback when I had stiff resistance to the suggestion that antidepressants may be useful. Mentally cursing Tom Cruise and his Scientology shit (I mean, look at the man, he could do with a low dose anti-psychotic.. okie, I'm joking there), I got around to attempting to convince him that anti-depressants are nonaddictive and not gonna make you a slave to them for the rest of our lives. Half way around I was beginning to realize that this is not about anti-depressants but the idea of using mind medicines, and the resistance to accepting the concept of a diseased mind. Before we get stuck in spirals of definitions of disease and normalcy, let me clarify that i mean a deviation from a state which would help us function with optimal efficiency and productivity, or something like what WHO defines it to be. I mean, people would find it so much more easier if one were to do functional MRIs and demonstrate hypo-frontality, or demonstrate decreased CSF serotonin metabolites. Well, it is true that it is not universal in depression and not consistent.

Anyway, coming back to the issue of antidepressants, what people would essentially be scared of is the fact that it would mean that we are admitting to giving up some degree of control over our own mind. Which brings us to the concepts of the idea of mind as an ephemeral concept independent of our body over which we are meant to have full control of. Won't that be rather unmindful of the role of the organ that our brain is, especially the pre-frontal cortex and the limbic parts? Parts which could get diseased and produce symptoms. What could we expect those symptoms to be...?

But of course, we could also conceptualize depression as an inability to deal with a life stressor, which could mean a personality (forebrain) predisposition to this, or that the stress was quite severe. In either case, we may not be able to equate it to the 'biological' depressions. And the role of antidepressants may be questionable.

The question really is this? Are we obliged to have complete control of our minds, or is that a societal sanction to prevent irrational and acceptable behavior. Of course, it is a nice ideal to have complete and unalienable control over our minds, but could it be possible in allow sigma biological system?
:)..

Holding on..

osho