Is It Acceptable To Test Chronic Pain Sufferers

[Warpy]

56. We're in the infancy of studying brain chemistry

and, as you found out, depression is a brain chemistry problem.

As of yet, there is no test to determine what brain chemistry a person has, only lists of symptoms in the DSM and a list of medications to try to relieve it.

It takes time and trial and error to get to the right drug or combination of drugs. That is the last thing a depressed person wants to hear since it's taken all of his/her strength to get to the first appointment. However, this is the only way we now have of doing it.

Had you gone back during grad school and said the drugs weren't working, you might have had the right combination years sooner. Unfortunately, depressives seldom think in those terms. If the first drug doesn't work, then their sense of hopelessness is confirmed and they sink a little lower into depression.

Docs need to be clearer about this, stressing that the drug might not work the first time and to come back if it doesn't, it's not the patient's fault.