New autism study (Curious what u all think)

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I agree.

Pharmaceutical companies are businesses that want profits at the end of the day. It's not profitable for them to research ways to heal patients as a whole - they research drugs that treat specific conditions or symptoms. That doesn't make them inherently bad, because as you noted there are some positive aspects.

Take it with a grain of salt?

Back on topic... the increased connectivity is an interesting area of study but I'm not so sure about using it to head in a direction of creating drugs to give children that will alter brain development. It doesn't seem ethical to me.

I don't like to take pharmaceutical drugs of any kind, because they interfere with the natural processes of the body and make me feel weird. I definitely would never want to take a drug that had the potential to change my brain in some way.

There's not enough information on the actual study to make any informed view of it. Typical of summaries like this, it tells us nothing about the methodology, sampling, previous work referenced, how the data was collected and analysed, how conclusions were reached...

Actually, the issue is with how medicine is practiced and paid for in modern times. In my opinion, medicine started collapsing with the development of HMO's back in the 1980's. While at the time it seemed to be a good idea, it has descended into a morass of Attornies, insurance companies and not-for-profit (not-for profit is NOT the same as non-profit) company executives who run the corporation as their own little fiefdom.

Nowadays, most doctors, who don't want to be sued out of existence, practice what is called evidence-based medicine. For most physical cases, evidence-based medicine works perfectly fine. You break your leg, you have physical evidence, and you know what the Rx is going to be. Ditto with Someone who has cancer of the large intestine,

Where evidence-based medicine breaks down is with mental illness. The typical GP wouldn't know what to do with bipolar disorder, for example, whereas, a smart psychiatrist would order a complete physical work up to see if it might be Hashimoto's thyroid, another thyroid deficiency, tumor, etc. failing any diseased internal organ, a history should be taken to see if it is an environmental issue or a situational issue. Unfortunately, when it comes to behavioral health, we, the public get the short shrift from the behavioral health profession. Why? The money handler's want the cheapest solution in the shortest time possible. Never mind that psychotherapies such as CBT and DBT take longer, but may produce a better outcome: the money handlers want results fast and cheaply, hence psychotropic medications.

Don't just take any drug they tell you, do your own research

Nasty side effects? A lot of people don't even wait till antidepressants become effective and just complain about day one side effects. Anti depressants have been around for decades, safety and tolerability is great.

Thank you everyone so far who has contributed to this thread.

I am curious to hear from people who practice meditation on a regular basis, as I hear latest developments in neuroscience is saying we can literally refire and wire new nural pathways and radically restructure our brains.

Personally speaking I have experienced this to some very small degree through channelling my obsessionality from mindless activity into regular mindfulness practice.

I don't practice meditation to reach enlightenment, just to be able to reduce my susceptibility to depression and be more present to my deeper desires and interests.

Some links below.

http://www.mindfulnessbell.org/wp/2012/ ... the-brain/

Watch "How We Learn - Synapses and Neural Pathways" on YouTube - How We Learn - Synapses and Neural Pathways: http://youtu.be/BEwg8TeipfQ

Interesting, but just because a lot of people are on meds doesn't mean that they're all on them for good reasons. It would be irrational to ignore what doctors and drug companies offer, but viewing their recommendations with a healthy amount of skepticism is rational enough, I would have thought.

I have practiced Buddhism for several years and have meditated on and off during that time. I've found that when I'm meditating regularly I'm a happier and much less neurotic person. Then something happens and I won't meditate for a few days and it reverses surprisingly quickly.

Thanks nuttyengineer.

I'm doing the experiment on myself.