response 59 of 170:

Jul 8 11:16 UTC 2002

As I recall, placebos work pretty well for depression, so wouldn't that
mean antidepressants work pretty-well+18% ?

response 61 of 170:

Jul 8 15:12 UTC 2002

There's a variation on the placebo effect -- unfortunately, I don't remember
what it's called -- that might be relevant too.  I seem to remember hearing
that a placebo with some tangible but irrelevant effect -- a caffeine pill,
say -- will work better than a totally inactive placebo.  

response 63 of 170:

Jul 8 16:33 UTC 2002

I took Zoloft for 6 months. I found that it helped me quite a lot. It 
doesnt matter to me if it was a placebo effect or not. 

response 65 of 170:

Jul 8 17:27 UTC 2002

I've been on Zoloft for eight years now. It helps. I have been told that
I'll be on it forever, since for me it's more of a maintenance thing than
not. I have a chronic chemical depression which doesn't react well to
therapy or to muich of anything except the anti-depressants. I have noticed
that I can function much better with it than I ever did without it, and
since my mother's family has had similar long-term depression (both my
grandmother and mother for sure, and most of the other female relatives)
I am pretty sure it's genetic and not something I can just "snap out of" or
deal with without my Zoloft.

response 69 of 170:

Jul 8 17:54 UTC 2002

One side effect the Zoloft has had on me, which would be a major 
detriment to most people, is the loss of my sex drive.  I probably have 
an erection about 1 time per week these days.  That's a fair amount 
less than before I started taking the prescription, though I was never 
the most sexual man anyway.

As it is, this isn't much of a disadavantage to me.  I don't want to 
date right now anyway, and don't expect I will until quite a while 
after the divorce is finalized.

response 71 of 170:

Jul 8 18:43 UTC 2002

heh yea .. even if i didn't want to date.

lol@#67

response 73 of 170:

Jul 8 19:46 UTC 2002

The psychiatrist was very concerned that I let her know if I should experience
loss of sex drive as a side effect (I haven't).  I *am* still capable of 
being excited or enthusiastic about things, but it takes more energy to get
over the initial who-cares activation energy hump thingy.  The biggest side
effect I've noticed is being almost perpetually sleepy.  I used to sleep 7-8
hours a night, these days I want about 10 hours and then I still have an 
overwhelming urge to nap in the afternoon.

response 75 of 170:

Jul 8 22:54 UTC 2002

I was on Prozac for a while, in college.  I don't remember it making me
apathetic or inactive -- actually, it made me more active, by lessening the
depression that was robbing me of all my energy.  I didn't have any side
effects while I was on it, but I had some coming off.

response 77 of 170:

Jul 9 00:15 UTC 2002

There are abundant historical references to the use of cannabis as a suggested
treatment for mood disorders like depression. (1) However, human studies are
scant and the results are mixed. A 1947 study of 50 depressed patients
administered synthetic THC found the drug beneficial to 36 of the
participants. (2) A double-blind controlled study conducted three years later
on 57 patients reported that the administration of small doses of synthetic
THC did not improve their symptoms. (3) A pair of more recent studies also
yield conflicting results. One reported that cannabis helped relieve
depression in cancer patients, while the other determined that THC failed to
improve depression in eight hospitalised patients. (4)

A 1994 survey of 79 mental patients found that those who used cannabis
reported relief from depression, anxiety, insomnia, and physical discomfort,
as well as fewer hospitalizations. (5) Lastly, a 1996 study cited in the 1999
Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the
Science Base," found that Dronabinol (oral THC a.k.a. "Marinol") significantly
assuaged mood disturbances and anorexia in 11 Alzheimer's patients. No side
effects were observed. (6)

The conflicting data concerning cannabis and depression should caution
patients considering experimenting with the drug therapeutically.
Additionally, cannabis' ability to occasionally produce paranoia and other
dysphorias (typically among inexperienced users) could heighten some patient's
feelings of depression. Cannabis' most promising potential to mitigate
symptoms of depression likely lies with patients who have previous experience
with it, and are failing to respond to traditional therapies.

http://www.gwpharm.com/cann_ther_depr.html

response 79 of 170:

Jul 9 15:13 UTC 2002

Well, even if a person is single, one can still have a sex life. You 
know...develop a relationship with your hand ;)

response 81 of 170:

Jul 10 01:18 UTC 2002

I read an article today in the Chicago Tribune "Depression looks more like
a physical thing". 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0207070369jul07.story?col
l=c
hi%2Dleisurefamily%2Dhed

Basically, it says advances in brain-imaging technology like PET and fMRI may
indicate that depression may be more physical than functional.  An excerpt:

"Before we had the new imaging technology, we couldn't get inside the brain;
it was just a black box," said Dr. Jan Fawcett, chief of psychiatry at
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.

"Now, if you look at the PET scans of people with just depression, what you
see is a shutting down of activity in their frontal lobes," he said. "It won't
explain all depressions, but it'll explain many causes of depression. The most
important thing it'll do is to show that depression should be considered a
medical illness."

The new findings should go a long way in helping to end the long-standing
debate over whether depression is organic or functional. Organic means there
are physical and chemical changes in the brain that produce depression;
functional means it's purely psychological.

"It used to be thought that there was nothing really physical in the brain
that's causing depression," said Dr. Emil Coccaro, a University of Chicago
professor of psychiatry. "Now we're actually starting to focus on the organic
reasons for these behavioral problems and to locate where they are."

A massive problem

Understanding the causes of depression is vital because the problem is
massive. About 1.5 million Americans suffer brain injuries each year, and 25
percent to 40 percent will experience depression, many of those with lifelong
depression.

Post #65 seems to go along with this.  I wonder if regular short term
depression (due to bad things happening like death of loved ones) tend to be
functional and long and recurring depressions tend to have physical origins.
I've been guilty in the past of suggesting to someone with depression that
they just needed to change their attitude.  A family member who later opted
out of life, which made me very depressed for a while.  But after a while,
I found not dwelling on what happened, prevented depression.  So the attitude
thing seemed to work for me (after a while), but I probably wouldn't suggest
that to someone with chronic or long term depression.  

response 83 of 170:

Jul 10 16:22 UTC 2002

no kidding.  This is good.  I know there are studies for chemical 
causes of bipolar disorders; it shouldn't be unreal that unipolar 
disorders shouldn't have roots in chemical imbalance.