XPost: uk.people.support.mental-health, alt.society.mental-health,   
   alt.support.depression.medication   
   XPost: alt.support.depression.manic   
   From: nomdeplume1000@yahoo.com   
      
    wrote in message news:6uin83dlcht4m7u7pmftbiq9m9hjf2lbms@4ax.com...   
   > On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 22:58:46 -0700, "Nom dePlume"   
   >  wrote:   
      
   >>Your reasoning if flawed. There is no medical test you can take to   
   >>diagnose   
   >>that you have a headache that is treatable by aspirin, either, yet people   
   >>take aspirin successfully for headaches all the time.   
   >   
   > You  forgot about the "fix chemical imbalances" part of my sentence.   
      
   No, I didn't forget it. It is irrelevant. What matters is the result, not   
   the explanation of the moment. Explanations change as understanding   
   improves. Yesterday's concept of 'chemical imbalance' may be replaced by   
   tomorrow's concept of 'abnormal receptor density' or something else. Over   
   time, medical science does advance, and inference is replaced by tests that   
   measure the problem and diagnose it.   
      
   >>These medications have been proven to work time and time again, for large   
   >>numbers of people. No one antidepressant medication works for everyone who   
   >>is depressed, but then, aspirin does not stop all headaches, either. Nor   
   >>does aspirin keep you from ever getting a headache again, but that is   
   >>hardly   
   >>a reason not to take it, when you have the pain, and know it will help.   
   >   
   > Work how? By depressing the symptoms? Why do they have the symptoms in   
   > the first place? Food? Environmental Stress? Past injuries?   
   >   
   > If you went to the Doctor for help for pain, would you want him to   
   > find out what caused it, and seek to remedy that, or just give you a   
   > little blue pill?  Why is someone with emotional problems or life   
   > stresses any different?   
      
   If you can find out a cause and fix it, that is good, and it is something I   
   recommend. Sometimes no cause can be discerned, and/or no non-medical   
   therapy is successful, in which case I believe medical treatment is   
   appropriate.   
      
   However, your argument is still flawed. Every human experiences transient   
   physical discomfort or illness that is never diagnosed by tests, but is   
   treated effectively by medications such as aspirin or cough syrup. Unless   
   you personally are willing to forego every known medicine, and never treat   
   any discomfort whose origins are not identified by a medical test, then the   
   point of view you present here is not consistent with how you live your   
   life.   
      
   --   
   Nom dePlume, Ph.D.   
   Why, yes, in fact, I am a rocket scientist.   
      
   Guide to Medications for Mental Illness:   
   http://www.mentalmeds.org   
      
   =====   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)