Anti-depressant may be a misnomer

[Guest guest]

Treatment of hepatitis C with interferon-alpha leads to fatigue,

" depression " , etc.:

http://tinyurl.com/9armx

PMID: 12450640

Clearly, inflammatory cytokines can cause " depression " . And

there is evidence that " anti-depressants " work by

immunomodulation:

http://tinyurl.com/8pjsk

PMID: 11270917

http://tinyurl.com/a8rnw

PMID: 14506314

http://tinyurl.com/9ga6r

PMID: 12404604

http://tinyurl.com/7hb9o

PMID: 11246093

In its most restrictive sense, the word " depression " refers to a

set of symptoms. More commonly, this word is used to denote

not only the symptoms being referred to, but also to the putative

mechanism(s) causing them. Even today, " depressed " people

are encouraged to participate in psychotherapy, an implicit

affirmation of the psychogenic model of " depression " .

Science abides by a number of basic standards. One is that, to

be considered scientific, a theory must generate testable

hypotheses. But psychotherapists take an unfalsifiable position.

When a " depressed " client fails to improve during " therapy " it is

said that that patient has yet to show the courage to face his

problems. The failure of psychotherapy does not, in the

practitioners' minds, falsify the psychogenic theory of

" depression " . Hypocritically, if the client happens to improve

during therapy, the psychotherapists take this as evidence in

support of their psychogenic model. Whereas failures are

blamed on the client, " successes " are credited to the model and

its proponents. This policy is wholly lacking in intellectual

integrity.

To add to the absurdity, the psychotherapists join " schools of

thought " . " Depression " is held to be due to repressed anger,

learned helplessness, faulty attributions, etc. Take your pick.

" Schools of thought " survive for decades only because their

models are untested, and untestable.

My first bachelor's degree was in psychology, pursued in part to

discover what was behind my " major depression " . It's a little

embarrassing now. How could I have been so gullible as to be

led to the belief that all those other symptoms were not related to

my " depression " ? I expended so much of my limited money and

energy on this, only to learn that medical psychology employs

smoke and mirrors. The upside is that I now know the Big

Words, I've seen the Wizard for the pathetic little man that he is,

and no one can say that I have not earned the right to criticize this

field.

How did such voodoo weasel its way into the practice of

medicine? How much longer will we allow physicians to engage

in this pseudoscience before we finally start ridiculing them?

Once physicians acknowledge their ignorance on this matter,

they might call for the NIH to fund research into this. Real

research. Research that ignores that giant house of cards that

has been built by the psychotherapists, developing instead new

models--models that generate testable hypotheses.

The view that " depression " is caused by inflammation, and that

" anti-depressants " work by decreasing inflammation is

inherently scientific (it can be tested; indeed, testing has already

begun).

And the view that some instances " depression " is really

untreated obstructive sleep apnea has been established to my

satisfaction:

http://tinyurl.com/3w6jo

PMID: 11796446

More importantly, it is testable (though this last paper already

tested this theory).

Matt