New factor in the cause of depression discovered

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yahoo news

Brain Protein May Be Linked to Depression
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
30 minutes ago

If they make a drug to control p11 levels, they probably ought to study the side effects very carefully and find out what this stuff does. Bodily chemicals tend to have a wide variety of functions, and these drugs, which act on the whole system, mess with every function associated with the chemicals. Natural healing seems to be much more targeted in comparison...it's like your system knows how to fix the thing that's gone wrong without screwing up everything else, unlike the scientists who focus on the most measurable details.

Hi Ghosts!

Very true what you said. I'd just like to say though, that it's good news... any step toward understanding is. If you remember the original drugs like Prozac weren't very specific and did more 'general' things than do the modern 3rd generation SSRI's. In my opinion this will continue to be the case- as we understand more about how the brain works, our tools should also increase in complexity.

I envision a day when drugs are synthesized, tailored to individual needs based on their personal biochemistry. I'm not smart enough to know when this will be, but someday...

some day we will understand.

I think so too, Hermit, I'm just pessimistic enough to think it won't happen in MY lifetime.

Interesting. I always thought there was more to it than a chemical imbalance of serotonin.

I hope they dont go overboard with this and ignore the societal/personal issues of depression. When I experienced my first heavy bout of depression not too long ago, I remember just being weighed down by all the burdans and problems of life, like I was staring up from a grave and the world was shoveling dirt on me. This wasnt something that came out of nowhere and suddenly grabbed me - it was very gradual and such. I think its good that they are making progress, but ultimately people are going to place too much hope on this. Instead of feeling depressed about your life, you're going to feel numb w/o emotion about it, but still feel that its weighing you down.

I hope that they can fix it My moods can swing very much it would be a great help to Me. Though I think it will be years from now before they can. Depression can very hard to live with for Me I take it one day at a time.

They used to give teens tricyclic antidepressants for depression. Didn't work too well. Then they tried SSRIs. Worked better but still not well. Now it's back to talk therapy, which is what was used to begin with.
Problem is, no one way of caring for depression treats more than 50% of the cases. That leaves a lot of depressed people out there.

The p11 protein described was known to be sensitive to stress induced changes. Theoretically, by avoiding stress, or too much stress, one could avoid the neurochemical response that sets up a depressive response.
Unfortunately, right now the only way to know if there is too much stress is to be depressed.

I definitely agree. It is so easy for many people to only think about one or the other factor in depression instead of looking at the whole as a complicated system. I must say, though, that a medication would probably be helpful if someone is unavoidably stressed. It really all depends on the person's individual circumstances and how much stress can be reduced, how much of a role that the brain chemistry stuff plays for that person, etc. Good to see some more progress in understanding. I was getting sick of just hearing "chemical imbalances in the brain." But I did like the Zoloft commercial. It's probably the one commercial in my life that gave me a happy feeling instead of wanting to throw up.

Many times the body has certain responses to emotions. Like, for me, whenever I'm super, super stressed, I have these weird on/off stomach aches that almost feels like acid reflux. I think that for depression, the brain probably responds by the amount of protein that's in the brain. So, even if someone gives someone a protein supplement or drug, it wouldn't cure the root cause of depression; the protein would probably come to the amount that it was before. It's like taking an asprin for a sore muscle or something else that hurts. It's only a temporary solution for pain, and the muscle-soreness is still there.

Many times the body has certain responses to emotions. Like, for me, whenever I'm super, super stressed, I have these weird on/off stomach aches that almost feels like acid reflux. I think that for depression, the brain probably responds by the amount of protein that's in the brain. So, even if someone gives someone a protein supplement or drug, it wouldn't cure the root cause of depression; the protein would probably come to the amount that it was before. It's like taking an asprin for a sore muscle or something else that hurts. It's only a temporary solution for pain, and the muscle-soreness is still there.

I've heard that low levels of scurvy could cause symptoms of depression, maby parents should try giving their kids multi-vitamins before jumping to medication. poor nutrition may be to blame too, ,my guess it that it is not talked about much because if is much more profitable to sell medication, than give proper vitamins. I felt better after i started taking them, even though i didn't know why i was feeling better, and staying up in first period.