Or is the chemical imbalance caused by depression? Does our brain just produce the chemical to help us feel the sad? I guess what I want to know is if you think the excess chemical actually causes you to feel sad, or if the chemical is just the medium by which our minds produce sadness. When we take medication for depression, is it similar to treating a symptom to help us fight off a disease?
2007-02-12 18:07:31 · 8 answers · asked by Link 5 in Health ➔ Mental Health
I believe I understand what you're asking. It has to do with the levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine. When the levels are high ...depression. This can be a combination of genetic, psychological and environmental factors. Familial depression carries a similar brain chemistry. A grief-causing event (death of a loved one) is stressful and may stimulate and increase neurotransmitter levels in the brain resulting in situational depression.
As far an antidepressants, I wouldn't put it quite the way you did. Antidepressants don't all have the same mechanism, that is, they don't all work the in the same way but they all work to alter the chemical environment of the brain. They don't "mask" an imbalance.
Antibiotics don't treat pain, which is a symptom. Antibiotics treat the infection itself. In the same way antidepressants don't directly treat the symptoms of depression, they directly treat the depression itself. And antidepressants don't make people feel "good", they help to make people feel NORMAL.
2007-02-12 18:35:12 · answer #1 · answered by TweetyBird 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think that one can work either way. If excess "chemical causes u to feel sad,, that would be a chemical imbalance. If you are sad because of a certain thing or things, thats different, although just being sad doesnt mean u are depressed.
2007-02-12 18:30:48 · answer #2 · answered by jkp 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
anti depressants do not get rid of depression, they mask the symptoms to make you feel better in order to get on with living, and put you in a position to look at why the depression happened in the first place. My advice, don't take the anti depressants, unless you have to, because once it makes you feel good you don't see the point in doing the work, meaning you could end up on them forever. but talk to a doctor, of which I am not.
I am not sure about the chemical imbalance part of the question. I have suffered anxiety depression myself and my doctors never told me about chemical imbalances, they told me that there was a reason that the depression occured in the first place, and was something I needed to work through. Once I had worked through it all, everything would go back to the way it should be, and the depression would be gone...and 8 years of damn hard work, it is gone.
2007-02-12 18:20:22 · answer #3 · answered by chelles_insanity 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sometimes our brain fails to produce the chemical that keeps us from being depressed. Than we have to take medications that stimulate the brain to produce the chemical that keeps us from getting depressed. It's not so much treating a symptom to fight off disease as it is to stimulate the brain to produce the chemical that is lacking.
2007-02-12 18:32:06 · answer #4 · answered by rainbowday s 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't take prescriptions, there is a natural herb available to you. It's called 5-HTP. Check out this link:
http://www.lightparty.com/health/5-htp.h...
This is a natural herb that does the exact same thing as an anti-depressant without all the side effects. It also helps you to lose weight! I find that the "NOW" brand in the orange bottle works the best. You have to play with the dose to find what works best for you. Good luck!!!
2007-02-14 08:02:45 · answer #5 · answered by Kitkat 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
By meditation and prayer you can tide over shyness.
Your prayer is from your heart. Further You must have to understood the fact that God is present in our heart. This can be realised in meditation. Further we are the creation of our own destiny. As per Hindu sacred religion, we carry all good and bad deeds life after life. There is no end unless we pray for unification of self with the divineliness.
Hence there is always a possible way to complete mergence with God in this life by a simple and wonderful meditation
2007-02-12 22:07:53 · answer #6 · answered by Master 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/190/3/557
2007-02-12 18:18:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, it's caused by a lack of beer.
2007-02-12 18:11:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋