Posted by IsoM on May 22, 2002, at 21:11:48
In reply to Contradiction? Re: EXogenous and ENdogenous, posted by JonW on May 22, 2002, at 3:20:16
> > "IsoM explained that with endogenous depression "...the tendency for it to surface is there & likely to be triggered in normal life." Well if someone has a major depressive episode after the death of a loved one, how is the dystinction made between endogenous depression that has been triggered and reactive depression?"
Woohoo to you too! (a quote I remember from an old favourite Donald Duck comic)
After you lose someone you love in death, it's perfectly normal to be deeply depressed. But in a normal individual, they will go through the grieving process, the different stages of grief, & while they will always miss their loved one, they will go on with life, laughing & doing things again. With someone who doesn't slowly heal, but only falls further & further into a black hole, that person could have developed depression. It *could* be said that their depression is exogenous as it was an outside influence (the death of someone) that triggered it.
But what decides one person healing & moving on, & another developing ongoing depression? No one knows why yet. Perhaps some people are more susceptible to depression than others. Not enough is known to say. Even the terms exogenous & endogenous isn't really agreed on & came about like many of the other terms used in psychiatry that don't seem that clear-cut. More for the convenience of psychiatrists than for the patients.
It reminds me of the debate over 'nuture or nature'. That great agrument has died down a lot with many sociologists & scientists realising that the borders between the two aren't easily decided & that both play major roles in the development of a person.
I'd say (my opinion only) that atypical depression can be either exogenous, endogenous, or a combination of both. Understandable? Not really, but psychiatry is still in its infancy.
poster:IsoM
thread:106919
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020517/msgs/107353.html