PatrickM said:
Isn't it interesting that with physical ailments, meds directly address the ailment, not merely the symptom, in their treatment? Yet in psychoacitve therapy, the meds merely dull the brain in various ways, yet apparently do not address the actual illness.
For example, if one is diagnosed with a "chemical imbalance", can the doctors say what the "balance" would be? If I'm doing a math problem, and my answer is wrong, there must be a right answer with which to compare and know it's wrong. It can't be the meds prescribed, because these aren't found naturally in our system.
Can the doctors address what the "balance" would be? Well, yes. If they give an SSRI <selective seratonin reuptake inhibitor> and it WORKS on depression, it is reasonable that the chemical imbalance was in the amount of seratonin in the brain. <Most common problem causing depression.> If that does not work, and they move on to Wellbutrin <a multireuptake inhibitor, starting on norepinephrine and moving onto dopamine> and THAT works, the logic applies that those two <or one of those two> hormones were the ones out of balance. If those types of drugs do not work, one might move to lithium, even for standard depression, as they might be lacking natural lithium in the body, which can cause depression. Again, a chemical cause. Then one might switch to Lamictal, which I *believe* <don't have time to go look at the PDR right now, forgive me> works on GABA in the brain, which if THAT works, shows GABA is out of wack. They might move to an MAOI, which would work on MAO in the brain, etc. When they find the drug that WORKS, it shows which chemical was out of balance, does it not? Simply because there is not an accurate way to test ahead of time what the chemical structure of the brain is <and I'm *guessing* the reason is because the necessary brain chemistry for every person is different> does NOT mean we cannot know which chemical is out of balance. Logical inferance tells us otherwise.
Do you know that if you take a PET scan of a normal brain, and a PET scan of a bipolar brain, there is a very visible difference. The frontal lobe of the bipolar is noticably more dense than the frontal lobe of the non bipolar. As in 30% more.
http://www.bipolarsurvivor.com/chemistry_print.html That is NOT spiritual, that is PHYSICAL. That is just as physical as diabetes and heart disease, yet you don't regularly hear "pray away your child's diabetes, and stop giving them their insulin, they'll just get better" from the Pentacostal community. Yet those of us with REAL mental illness are expected to endure ridicule in the spiritual community for our REAL problems, simply because people don't understand.
Now, do I think that *some* people have problems in the spiritual realm rather than the physical realm when dealing w/ depression or panic attacks or something? It's possible. Satan can do all sorts of things to mess w/ people, and assuredly that's one of them. And by all means, we should be praying for healing for everyone dealing with any and all problems, whether they be spiritual or physical.
But when there is PHYSICAL EVIDENCE that bipolar patients have DIFFERENT BRAIN LAYOUTS than regular brains, that is not a spiritual attack, that is a physical disease that requires mental health drugs.
Shalia