Posted by SLS on April 5, 2024, at 19:27:34
In reply to Re: What do we know about the biology of depression? » SLS, posted by Hugh on April 5, 2024, at 12:12:38
Hugh.
Up until 2000, pure neuroscience research was probably 10-20 years ahead of clinical therapies.
I'm sure I wrote a number of times that I was a research patient at the National Institutes of Health 1992-1993. My brain was one of the first to be imaged using a PET scan. It was a step forward. Unfortunately, pure neuroscience research was never yoked to clinical application. I was able to witness this first-hand throughout the 1980s. They were essentially different fields of study with very little communication between them. I wrote about this and imagined establishing a foundation for the application of neuroscience. Not too many years later, a new field called "translational medicine" emerged for exactly that purpose. Dr. Schmidt found a place for himself in this new discipline. I believe he still works for Johnson & Johnson in their translational medicine department.
So many great ideas were put forth by the Psycho-Babble community over its 25 year run. I find it interesting how one person can cause members to flee. There were two in particular. The first extinction event was caused by as single poster with immeasurable persistence that resulted in his name littering the board top to bottom. He was allowed by the administration to continue his behavior without admonishment. It started a war that only he could win. At some point, he disappeared, but those who fled never returned.
The second extinction event was caused by me. It occurred while I was in a drug-induced manic state. I can only hope that some of those who disappeared remembered my "critique" of their counterproductive treatment behavior. Changing drugs or drug dosages every 3-10 days is a formula for losing years of one's life to depressive illness. I understand the desperation that produces this behavior, especially since I did the same thing.
It is an exciting prospect that someone be treated using a brief exposure to a psychedelic and show a quick and enduring, robust improvement. I had always been under the impression that a drug that would produce an improvement in depression immediately - stimulants, for example - would not show durability over the long term. Ketamine definitely did not follow this paradigm, and has demonstrated its efficacy for quite a few years. Esketamine intra-nasal has been available since 2019. Psilocybin appears to be at least equipotent to ketamine (esketamine). Both drugs enhance of neuroplasticity. However, as of now, the mechanisms of action of the two drugs appear to be different.
Ketamine / Esketamine = NMDA glutamaate receptor antagonist.
Psilocybin = Serotonin (5-HT2a) receptor agonist.
I doubt that any of this is new to you, but perhaps others will benefit from it.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
poster:SLS
thread:1122356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20230117/msgs/1122362.html