Saturday, August 09, 2003

Have I been HACKED?!<BR>
There are some links off of the words 'antdepressants' and'self-help' on the last two posts. I'm in Hamburg on a WIN2K machine and I'm wondering if this makes a difference?

I DO need to say this:

I do NOT endorse these active links on my blogsite. I did NOT place them there and I do NOT want them there!<BR>
Okay, with that being said, please leave commentary about whether or not you are getting these links on your browsers. I do appreciate it.

THE MANAGEMENT -me

Friday, August 08, 2003

This Just In

More nonsense brought to you by science...

OK, I respect science but, I just can't get the image out of my mind of a bunch of folks in labs coats playing with the innerds of rats, little rat brains and such. Personally, I feel it is foolish to 'mess' with something a like synapses. I think we should concentrate on the things we can now see but, oh well. Here is the latest in modern cures for modern people...



Antidepressants Grow New Brain Cells - U.S. Study
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antidepressants may help stimulate the growth of new brain cells, U.S.-based scientists said on Thursday in releasing research that may lead to the development of better drugs to fight depression.

Research on rats shows that two different classes of antidepressants can help brain cells regenerate -- and not in areas normally thought of as being involved in depression.
"This is an important new insight into how antidepressants work," Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said in a statement.
The study fits in with others that suggest depression can shrink the hippocampus, a brain region crucial to learning and memory but only recently found to be involved in depression. Major stress and trauma -- both depression triggers -- can also cause the shrinkage.
"We have known that antidepressants influence the birth of neurons in the hippocampus. Now it appears that this effect may be important for the clinical response," Insel said.
New antidepressants may be developed to target this process directly, said Rene Hen of Columbia University in New York, who led the study.
"The proof in humans is going to come when we extend the work into finding drugs that stimulate neurogenesis. If these drugs have antidepressant effects in humans, this is going to be proof that the process is critical in humans," Hen said in a telephone interview.
"There is a push already in the pharmaceutical industry to find such compounds."
The new study may also help explain why it can take weeks for antidepressants to give patients relief.
"If antidepressants work by stimulating the production of new neurons, there's a built-in delay," said Hen. The stem cells that give rise to new cells need time to divide, to differentiate into neurons, move to their new homes and link up with other neurons.
To make sure that the new brain cells in the hippocampus was the source of the lifted depression, Hen and colleagues at Yale University and in France worked with genetically engineered mice, using X-rays to kill newly growing cells in the hippocampus.
These mice did not respond as they normally would to antidepressants. Mice which were given fluoxetine, an antidepressant sold under the brand-name Prozac by Eli Lilly and Co., and were then given X-rays did not resume grooming as would be expected.
Mice who received no X-rays and were killed after being dosed for 11 or 28 days with fluoxetine showed significant growth of new brain cells.
A drug in a different class, the tricyclic imipramine, also stimulated the growth of neurons, Hen's team reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
"Besides finding drugs that target this process, the other basic research challenge for me is to find out what the function of these new neurons is," Hen said.
Experts say that 16 percent of Americans -- more than 30 million people -- will suffer major depression at some point in their lives.
The NIMH says major depression is now the No. 1 leading cause of disability around the world.



Wednesday, August 06, 2003

I was hoping someone would ask me this!!!


Mac the Coveting, Drunken Blogger asks:

'Just curious, what makes this book so good? I've read many, some good, some bullshit and some so ridiculous they're dangerous for a depressed person.'

Hi Mac,

I do agree; some of these books are dangerous! As the title reads, this book informs us of our options for healing our dis-eases. In it I have found that:

1)not all diagnoses for depression is correct.

2) most of the drugs that are given for 'depression' are ineffective or more harmful than a placebo ( I had another great doctor 15 years ago who explained that the new medicine he was giving me would clear the fog away long enough for me to re-learn how to deal with my slump. It worked....for a minute.)

3)Childhood trauma leads to depression in later life


Mac, this book is the road to healing. It's not a quick fix, or a waste of time, believe me because I've wasted a lot of time.I went to see Dr. Whitfield myself. What I've been actively working on for over 20 years with other doctors, he set me straight in 3 days! I am confident to say that I have found the right direction, finally. OK, now the work on myself begins but, I feel good knowing that it is the right approach, right direction and, like anything worth our time and effort, it will pay off. It already has. I have answers! and the answers make sense to me. This book is a great begining but the real work starts with this one:

Healing the Child Within


These are some reviews:


After a tumultuous adolescence and early adulthood I found myself in therapy. My therapist recommended that I attend a self-help group for adult children of dysfunctional families. The therapist also suggested that I read "Healing the Child Within". I didn't think I needed any self help group -at least not badly enough to go through the trouble of actually finding such a group in my area. After being in therapy for one year I read "Healing the Child Within".
I was not physically or sexually abused as a child. What I did not understand was how pervasive and harmful the emotional NEGLECT was and how it still affected me as an adult. What I learned from this book was how much I had been deprived of as a child. How feelings of fear and anxiety as an adult could be the result of childhood experience. After reading this book I was left with a very strong desire to attend a self help group. I attended my first ACoA group in October 1988 and my life has gotten better in ways I cannot put into words. This book for me was not the answer but a trigger to seek further help. But if I had not had this trigger I would not be where I am today. In the context of a trigger, I can honestly say that this book changed my life in a very profound way.


Another reader says:


This small book by Whitfield, M.D. is a great big book for anyone who has disfunctional problems, either in their own lives, or with people that they associate with. For such a "small" book it is exceptional, and has many excellent pages of graphs, pictures, and tables that allow the reader to visually "see" subjects that otherwise would be only mentally understood. Additionally, it is well organized, so the reader quickly grasps in just a few pages what might have taken chapters in other books. The chapters on self esteem, stress, and grieving show to the reader how all the disfunctional topics are inter-related, so that you can see how "one problem" is actually several problems in a persons life. Overall, an small but exceptional book full of information on the dynamics of disfunctionally, and how deeply this impacts all our lives.

Anyway, Mac,. I hope you find the healing you need. This seems to be the right direction...

take care
george

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

IF YOU READ ANOTHER 'SELF HELP' BOOK THIS YEAR, I HIGHLY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE:



Monday, August 04, 2003

Okay, so I have this theory; When we were created, the varieties of personalities and physical appearence weren't so much limited because a lack of ideas but, limited to a few personality types/looks so that wherever we go in the world and whoever we meet, the observer could immediately figure out what 'type' of person they were dealing with.
Let me clarify myself with this observation;
In Hamburg, Germany, there is quite a blend of folks here; the natives, of course and immigrants from everywhere...Turkish folks being the largest non native population. Besides other non-German Europeans, there are folks from Africa, South America, China and yes, a few Ex-Pats.
What almost made me fall off my internet café chair this morning was the sighting of the Turkish Kramer. On the sidewalk in front of the café there is some major digging going on that makes simply walking here fairly treacherous (ah, yes! the shrill sound of a saw against concrete has just sonically invaded my being...maybe some dust in the eyes...yeah, definitely...Wonderful!!!) Anyway, I hear this screech from a bike and in the entranceway I see the Turkish Kramer spasing (is this a word?), falling off his bike (still standing, mind you). Can you see it? He has a cast on his right arm (why is he riding a bike?) and in Kramer fashion, he turns and starts cursing the construction workers, EXACTLY the way Kramer would have on Seinfeld. He even had the same hair and facial structure!! I jive you not!
I think when I was in Hong Kong I might have seen the Malaysian version of Elaine.
I've got it! We'll do an International version of Seinfeld but I'll play Seinfeld- not George...I'm off to work on the script...