Word: braine
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That could explain why drugs that improve serotonin chemistry don't always work on depression--and why Parkinson's and depression can feed on each another. Epilepsy, stroke and Alzheimer's, which, like Parkinson's, involve physical alteration of the brain, probably also affect that organ's ability to make or process neurotransmitters--not only serotonin and dopamine but also glutamate and norepinephrine, all of which may be involved in different forms of depression...
Most treatments for depression aim to restore the electrochemical imbalance that leads a depressed brain into warped thinking. The so-called tricyclic antidepressant drugs popular in the 1960s, for example, boosted the activity of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, and two other neurotransmitters, active throughout the body. That often relieved depression but caused side effects, including overwhelming sleepiness, blurred vision and dizziness. The drugs also proved potentially lethal when taken in overdose...
Meanwhile, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), better known as shock treatment, resets the electrical state of the brain by inducing a seizure. (Despite ECT's lurid reputation, it involves mild doses of current and can be almost miraculously successful in patients whose depression will not yield to drugs.) Even old-fashioned, low-tech talk therapy can help adjust a patient's brain chemistry and lessen the severity of depression, especially in conjunction with other treatments...
...mind seems very different from the one inhabited by our bodies. The psychic space inside our heads is infinite and ethereal; it seems obvious that it must be made of different stuff than all the other organs. Cut into the body, and blood pours forth. But slice into the brain, and thoughts and emotions don't spill out onto the operating table. Love and anger can't be collected in a test tube to be weighed and measured...
Mind and body, psychologists and neurologists now agree, aren't that different. The brain is just another organ, albeit more intricate than the rest. The thoughts and emotions that seem to color our reality are the result of complex electrochemical interactions within and between nerve cells. The disembodied voices of schizophrenia and the feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred that accompany depression, although they seem to be based on reality, are no more than distortions in brain electrochemistry. Researchers are learning how these distortions arise, how to lessen their severity and, in some cases, how to correct them...