From: Eirikur Hallgrimsson (eh@mad.scientist.com)
Date: Sat Jul 15 2000 - 23:00:49 MDT
On Sat, 15 Jul 2000, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Besides, severe depression is good for you.
I'm pretty sure you're kidding Eliezer. I hope so.
Severe depression kills at about a 20% lifetime rate, from what I've
read. It tries to kill me when it gets a chance.
I do strongly agree that messing blindly with your neurotransmitters
is bad. It's not the kind of thing to do lightly, which is why I
wrote in the context of intervention. I honestly don't know what to
do for long-term maintenance. I quit the prescriptions for reasons
much like Eliezer gave. It's also pretty clear that I don't need
that kind of thing most of the time. It's pretty scary that the
general public is getting to do the longitudinal study on perpetual
maintenance on SSRIs.
5-HTP is normally found in the body, and it washes out of your system
quickly, so it's probably safer than the SSRIs. So far it's not
having the mental side-effect profile of the SSRIs for me.
Good current book on bi-polar disorder: "An Unquiet Mind" by Kay
Redfield Jamison. She was born with it, and even as a clinical
researcher, frequently refused or stopped medication. She can speak
authoritatively, if you ask me. I'm much less sure I'm not bi-polar
after reading it.
Eirikur
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