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Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

nautil.us

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Re: Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

#151

Post by lilcarlyung »

jganetsk wrote: post #138
lilcarlyung wrote: post #25

What with the pro-drug posts here all the time. I'm guessing that most of the HN audience is American. Is it common among techies in the U.S. to experiment with psychoactive drugs, hence the interest and knowledge? Please, do not mention Steve Jobs acid experiences.

Interesting generalization. Do you have any evidence that Americans are more "pro-drug" than average? Do you think Americans actually consume more drugs, or just that they suffer from less drug stigma in their society?

American intellectuals and higher eds experiment more with and stigmatize less the use of mind altering substances. This is strictly a personal observation though, not necessarily a fact.

Re: Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

#152

Post by lilcarlyung »

dismal2 wrote: post #28
lilcarlyung wrote: post #25

What with the pro-drug posts here all the time. I'm guessing that most of the HN audience is American. Is it common among techies in the U.S. to experiment with psychoactive drugs, hence the interest and knowledge? Please, do not mention Steve Jobs acid experiences.

are you anti-drug? if so, why?

Not in the "War on Drugs" sense. Each to his own. And one can't argue with evident medical benefits, right? As for recreational use, mind expanding substances can offer wonderful insights into the world and oneself. But to actually change anything, one has to internalize and act on those insights and this can only be done with a sober brain. I've met too many people who get hooked on getting more and more insights, instead of making a reality of what they've learned. They themselves think they are changing for the better but their actions show that they are still the same.

Re: Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

#153

Post by emmelaich »

kstenerud wrote: post #143
emmelaich wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree mostly, but how do you know for sure that there is some stress or thought there which is perhaps unacknowledged? I think that someone can be affected by somethings in their earlier life that can affect them forever. I'm not talk about repressed memories, I'm talking about the lack of positively formative experiences at critical moments of their life. Example - what happens when say someone starts school or is…

How do you know for sure that it's not something in the water? How can you be sure it's not WiFi radio waves messing with her brain? Can you really rule out space aliens trying to stop her from reaching her potential? There's a reason we use the scientific method.

How do you control for those things? Do you believe those things are equally likely? Part of the scientific method is attempting to be aware of you don't know.

Re: Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

#154

Post by MrBra »

meowface wrote: post #122
bigbugbag wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently read that the theory behind serotonin reuptake inhibitors might actually be wrong and possibly cause more harm than good. The actual neurotransmitter mechanism behind depression would be dopamine. I'm sorry that I can't recall the source, but you should look into this.

There is no consensus on what the root causes of major depression are; there are probably many causes. Dopamine can definitely affect happiness, but giving a chronically depressed patient L-DOPA once per day generally won't treat their depression for very long. On that same note, people with ADHD are often missing dopamine in many parts of the brain, but ADHD isn't necessarily correlated strongly with depression. And…

And then are better results achievable with SSRIs instead?

Re: Ketamine’s effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness

#156

Post by meowface »

MrBra wrote: post #154
meowface wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no consensus on what the root causes of major depression are; there are probably many causes. Dopamine can definitely affect happiness, but giving a chronically depressed patient L-DOPA once per day generally won't treat their depression for very long. On that same note, people with ADHD are often missing dopamine in many parts of the brain, but ADHD isn't necessarily correlated strongly with depression. And…

And then are better results achievable with SSRIs instead?

Compared to taking amphetamine? On average, yes, of course.

SSRIs don't work very well for many people, but they do work well for many other people.

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