Hi. Glad you asked for our opinion. Our quote is directly from the source, which in our case is the widely acknowledged Medical Reference Text, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Thirteenth Edition:
"MOOD DISORDERS
The mood disorders are characterized by pervasive, prolonged, and disabling exaggerations of mood and affect that are associated with behavioral, physiologic, cognitive, neurochemical, and psychomotor dysfunctions. The major mood syndromes are major depressive disorder (also called unipolar disorder), bipolar disorder (also called manic depressive illness or bipolar depression), and dysthymic disorder. The classification of mood disorders into the unipolar and bipolar categories is useful clinically because these entities, although closely related mental disorders, are psychobiologically different with somewhat different clinical characteristics, disease patterns, and treatments...
The prevalence of mood disorders is estimated to be as high as 20 percent in general medical and primary care settings. The first step in the treatment of any mood disorder is recognition... A mood disorder may be present in patients exhibiting certain symptoms, although they may be somewhat vague, nonspecific, and of little consequence (e.g., low energy, easy fatigability, loss of interest in every day and pleasurable activities, dysphoria, insomnia, impotence). However, there are some clinical clues that should raise the index of suspicion, such as the presence of treatment for previous major depressive episodes, history of suicide attempts, family history of depression or of suicide attempts, or alcoholism or drug abuse.
Important advances have been made in the treatment of the mood disorders, and the vast majority of these patients can now be treated with a high degree of specificity and success...
Because mood disorders have strong tendencies for recurrence, an important aspect of the patient's treatment is the comprehensive education of patients and their families about the disorder... Virtually all the antidepressants and mood-stabilizing medications have a significant delay between when the drug is first taken and when full therapeutic benefits appear... Specific psychotherapies (cognitive/behavioral psychotherapy and interpersonal psychotherapy of depression) can be used successfully in the treatment of mild to moderate major depressive episodes... Competency in these forms of psychotherapy requires considerable training and experience...
Neurohormonal correlates
For a number of years, probes into the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the mood disorders have used various neurohormones whose secretion is regulated by one or more of the CNS neurotransmitter pathways (e.g., dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin). One consistent finding from these studies has been that a significant subpopulation of patients with major depressive disorder hypersecrete cortisol and have abnormal cortisol circadian secretion patterns. Recent investigations with corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation have yielded blunted adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses, suggesting that the corticosteroid abnormality is of central origin. In addition, even though it is now controversial, the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) has been used in both diagnosis and monitoring of treatment in research settings...
Other neuroendocrine markers have also been explored, but none as widely as the DST... Small subgroups of depressed patients have manifested blunted growth hormone responses to the following challenge agents: clonidine, amphetamine, levodopa, 5-hydroxytryptophan, and hypoglycemia (insulin tolerance test). Even though 15 to 25 percent of depressed patients have blunted growth hormone responses, it has not been proved to be diagnostically useful. More recently, blunted prolactin responses to both TRH and opiate alkaloid challenges have also been reported in subpopulations of depressed patients..."
Yeah, yeah, yeah... you may say. Even if I didn't know all this before, what does it help me that I know it now? In what way can knowledge of this complex system help me? I know anti-depressant medication can help as long as I keep taking it, but will I live for ever on medications? Can my brain start working normal again so that I can be "drug free" and "undepressed" and functioning confident and happy again?
Yes, you can. T-Analysis is the method of choice for a long term solution. Schedule a session today and you'll never be the same.
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