Originally posted by: Sqube
Originally posted by: BD2003
Originally posted by: Sqube
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ALL of your thoughts are "chemically caused". Depression has a signature "imbalance".
You can't remove the one from the other, as if there was a depression that wasnt manifested chemically. You can most definitely "treat" it, and you will most definitely feel less depressed.
But the drugs alone aren't going to straighten out the root cause of it all.
I'm sorry if I was unclear. I meant is there a test that will detect the specific lack or excess of a specific brain chemical, with the end result being a depressive state without a pre-existing root cause.
Not very likely. Are there tests that can detect a lack or excess of neurotransmitters? I've never heard of any, but other people seem to believe there are.
But that kind of test could only test for an imbalance or not. It couldnt tell you about any "root causes."
Even that is an oversimplification. Some people will be genetically more predisposed to being depressed, but something, even something minor, will set it off. Others have more of a tolerance, and it takes a proportionatly larger catastrophe, such as a death, to set it off.
Either way, the drugs are going to play tricks with the chemicals in your brain. Whether thats good or bad, is up to you to decide. There is no such thing as "normal", as in right and wrong. Some people get depressed easily, some people dont. Different drugs will modulate different neurotransmitters.
If you have a serious, chronic problem, with nothing obvious causing it, go talk to a doctor. If you just got dumped, give it a month, and it'll pass.