Are there tests to tell whether depression...

[Sqube]

?

 

[sixone]

Yes. See a doctor.

 

[Ultralight]

Yes, absolutely. There are specialists that deal with brain chemistry and depression.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Sqube
?

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.

 

[Sqube]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Sqube
?

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.

 

[sao123]

Depression is the state of being unhappy...
you dont need to go to the doctor...just see which of the below applies to you to determine why you are depressed:

a)you dont feel loved/needed by others or lack intimate friends/significant other
b)you dont have enough sex
c)you dont have enough money or material posesisons
d)you have experienced recent loss or failure
e)you dont have permission to log into AT anymore


99.98% of all depression stems from one or more of these 5 things.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

<---------had the bloodwork and the EEG

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: Sqube
Are there tests to tell whether depression is chemically caused?

Yes, post on ATOT and wait 4-6 weeks for the results. :roll:

Seriously, just go see your doctor. You people amaze me at times.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: sao123
Depression is the state of being unhappy...
you dont need to go to the doctor...just see which of the below applies to you to determine why you are depressed:

a)you dont feel loved/needed by others or lack intimate friends/significant other
b)you dont have enough sex
c)you dont have enough money or material posesisons
d)you have experienced recent loss or failure
e)you dont have permission to log into AT anymore


99.98% of all depression stems from one or more of these 5 things.

oh, great, i'm glad you cleared that up for us. care to point us to the scientific journals where your research is published? you know, where we might be able to read about your amazing discoveries that fly in the face of decades of research by some of the sharpest minds in the field?

:roll:

"e" is definetely true, though!

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Sqube

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Sqube
?

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.

 

[Sqube]

For the record:
No, I haven't been dumped recently.
Yes, I'm having problems.
Yes, I'm regularly seeing someone about it.

This was/is a question to satisfy my curiosity, nothing more.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Sqube

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.

No, simple tests will not do that, because correlation != causation. And there are too many variables to structure a scientific test of the causes of depression.

IMHO (mind you, I'm no doctor), most people have the willpower to get over depression by themselves, if they really put their minds to it. And that's a lot cheaper than using drugs or seeing a shrink. But it's certainly harder.

 

[nutxo]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: sao123
Depression is the state of being unhappy...
you dont need to go to the doctor...just see which of the below applies to you to determine why you are depressed:

a)you dont feel loved/needed by others or lack intimate friends/significant other
b)you dont have enough sex
c)you dont have enough money or material posesisons
d)you have experienced recent loss or failure
e)you dont have permission to log into AT anymore


99.98% of all depression stems from one or more of these 5 things.

oh, great, i'm glad you cleared that up for us. care to point us to the scientific journals where your research is published? you know, where we might be able to read about your amazing discoveries that fly in the face of decades of research by some of the sharpest minds in the field?

:roll:

"e" is definetely true, though!

I think he's quoting Tom Cruise.

 

[Whisper]

Not that I'm aware of, but I'm no expert in biopsych. As another poster mentioned, there are probably tests out there that'll look at certain levels of neurotransmitters, but that's no guarantee one way or another that you have depression.

Taking seratonin for example: it's thought that seratonin plays some sort of role in the development/causation of depression. However, what role it plays, and whether or not that role is causal, isnt fully understood. Even the exact mechanisms of SSRIs aren't fully understood, although their effects are wide-spread enough to lend credence to the idea that low seratonin levels are, in fact, related to mood disturbance, among other things.

 

[badmouse]

The "tests" for telling which chemical is out of whack in the brain, are to try different drugs and see what helps.

It's pretty hard on the system, but it's the best that medical science can do so far.

Most MD's have a system where they start you on X, then try Y when X doesn't work, and so on.