Posted by noa on April 8, 2003, at 19:37:01
In reply to Re: General questions and guidance..., posted by waterlily on April 8, 2003, at 17:13:49
What is interesting, though, is that even though the science of the brain is still so new and so much is not known about how experience and biochemistry interact, there is new research all the time that is quite exciting. For example, there are studies that found that the experience of depression actually changes at least one aspect of brain structure--the hippocampus is negatively impacted by depression and the release of chemicals like cortisol. Depression may be on a continuum from highly genetically "scripted" to much more reactive to what happens in life, and every possible combo in between! And once depressed, it can affect the brain and how the brain reacts to stressors.
It is a complex system with feedback loops.
The advantage of seeing a pdoc for medication is that a pdoc, one specializing in psychopharmacology, does psych meds prescriptions all day, all the time, and has seen a lot of patients, and is familiar with many psych meds, the advantages and disadvantages of each, etc. etc. If you are taking a med combo of more than one med, you might want to do at least one consultation with a pdoc (one you find with careful referral). However, if you feel your regular doc has a good handle on the med situation and your response, as well as side effects, etc., you might decide to stick with that doc.
Since you are a logically-oriented person, you might like a cognitive therapy approach to treating depression, if you are looking for therapy in addition to medication. This would involve increasing awareness of things like automatic negative thoughts and how they affect your feelings and assumptions about yourself, etc. and devising ways to teach yourself to challenge your assumptions and think differently.
poster:noa
thread:217290
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030407/msgs/217537.html