Group therapy time

[BigV]

Sarge

This is a story from the local university about a new treatment for PTSD. I am absolutely not a doctor, but I do keep up on the news. This sounded very interesting. I hope you can make some use of this information.


Learning to not be afraid: UW psychologists treat PTSD with drug known to enhance learning

Oct. 11, 2011
...

“It may seem counterintuitive to ask someone to repeatedly recount an event that is so scary,” said Lori Zoellner, director of UW’s Center for Anxiety & Traumatic Stress. “But as someone does this he or she begins to look at the memory differently and the memory has less control over their lives." The once terrifying movie becomes not so upsetting.

The PTSD therapy – called prolonged exposure therapy – works well. About two-thirds of the PTSD patients treated with it no longer have PTSD after 10 therapy sessions lasting 90 minutes each.

But Zoellner, along with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas at Austin, has a plan to make it even better and faster. In a new study, the researchers scaled down the therapy to six daily 1-hour sessions. Each session is followed by a placebo pill or a dose of a drug called methylene blue, which is believed to help strengthen learning and insights that occurred during the therapy session. The compound is FDA-approved for other uses and has been used safely for years with few significant side effects.

...

[Griff]

I read your post man Is this a good time to mention that I will be ending all my comments using man as punctuation man

[Chocolatl]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

But for some, they make the difference between living and driving your car off a cliff.

I know this is neither here nor there, but I just had to chime in to say how close to home this line hit for me.

I spent about 8 months on SSRIs last year after Life got to be too much -- the stress of being a teacher paired with my father-in-law battling cancer shut me down to the point where I couldn't function on a daily basis.

This summer, with the school year done and Dad on track to good health, I met with my doctor and made the decision to wean off the medication.

Then the school year started back up.

Earlier this week, I found myself wondering if wrapping my car around a tree on my way in to work would mean I could take a few weeks off.

I'm headed back to the doctor tomorrow morning.

Part of me feels like a failure, like surely I could keep my self together without chemical help. The rest of me recognizes the honest fact that I can only do so much on my own, and I wouldn't be doing much of anything if I ended up in a ditch down a wooded road one morning.

[Trilby]

good for you, Choco.

hang in there. You don't have to suffer depression. I'm glad you're going to the doc tomorrow.

[Pico and ME]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Half of us on antidepressants are on them for anxiety problems, not depression



fuckers aren't reading my posts again

Do they really lower the anxiety that is caused by stress? My episode was caused by an intense overload of prolonged stress and anxiety. Imipramine did diddly squat for it. My problems only went away when I quit my job. I was prescribed prozac after the fact. I wonder if it would have worked beforehand?

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by BigV

Sarge

<snip>

Learning to not be afraid: UW psychologists treat PTSD with drug known to enhance learning

Just don't think you are turning into one of the Blue Man drummers when your pee turns blue.
/

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

Also, I'm not surprised that 10% of Americans are on an anti-depressant.

That number is way higher than 10%!

[footfootfoot]

Especially if you count the schizophrenics twice.

Plenty of room in this handbasket.

[ZenGum]

Oh you naughty person. People. Tripod.

[infinite monkey]

Patients who take the drugs often get them from their regular doctor
rather than a so-called mental health professional.

lamp, from your post.

Of course people are getting the scripts from their regular doctors. Regular doctors have psychiatric training as part of their core of study. I don't know if you're suggesting people would be better served to be referred to a psychiatrist or PsyD for meds that are to a depressive what diabetics meds are to a diabetic.

For one thing, I think it would preclude a lot of people getting the help they need. Specialists are expensive, even with insurance. Some people might think "I don't need a freaking shrink" (stigma) and not pursue it.

My doctor, a D.O. has known me for many many many years. He talks to me and listens to me. I have faith that he is working with me for the best 'cocktail' to get, and KEEP, my depression under control. Honestly, I wish I had known about such things when I was in college. I wish depression were "over-diagnosed" then, and I might have gotten help much earlier.

At any rate, to add fuel to your fire (well, not really a fire, more a reasonably contained campfire) I am now on a second SSRI. I've been on the main one so long, doc thinks my body says "Oh, I see you have enough seratonin now" because the SSRI is blocking the reuptake. So this second one is supposed to "boost" if you will the first one. The first one is doing its job, so it wouldn't make sense to try to wean me off. (The main one is also the one with the shortest half life of the SSRIs and withdrawal, even for one day, is brutal.)

So, UT...I'm reading your posts. I don't know why my SSRI doesn't take better care of my anxiety attacks. I think it did for a while but I really believe perimenopause and worse PMS are taking their toll. My anti-anxiety is prescribed for pms, but I use it when I start to recognize I'm about to have an attack. And it really helps me to not blow things clear out of proportion.

Choco, hang in there girl. I know exactly what you mean about the car and the tree. You don't really want anything bad to happen but you have moments when it sounds like some sort of relief...to rest, to not have to DO, to have someone else take care of things for a while. I hope you feel better soon.

My bloodwork numbers were BETTER than they were 5 years ago. I'm glad it's not blood sugar or thyroid or whatever, but I must admit I was hoping for something that didn't make me feel more crazy.

But I'm not crazy. My doc says so. My best friend says so. I do have issues from my past I've never dealt with, and the next step is to contact the employeecare on campus for a recommendation. No, I don't WANT to talk about that stuff. That's why I don't talk about it. To talk about it makes it too real. Otherwise, I can just think about those things in a vague detached kind of way. Something blurry from the past. But I guess that option has left the building.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

lamp, from your post.

Of course people are getting the scripts from their regular doctors. Regular doctors have psychiatric training as part of their core of study. I don't know if you're suggesting people would be better served to be referred to a psychiatrist or PsyD for meds that are to a depressive what diabetics meds are to a diabetic.

For one thing, I think it would preclude a lot of people getting the help they need. Specialists are expensive, even with insurance. Some people might think "I don't need a freaking shrink" (stigma) and not pursue it.

My doctor, a D.O. has known me for many many many years. He talks to me and listens to me. I have faith that he is working with me for the best 'cocktail' to get, and KEEP, my depression under control. Honestly, I wish I had known about such things when I was in college. I wish depression were "over-diagnosed" then, and I might have gotten help much earlier.

<snip>

IM, ... no evil intended

My OP spoke to medical schools and the AMA training more practicing physicians to emulate your D.O.

That business about mental health workers and psychiatrists came from the original article...
and frankly I took it to be the sort of hierarchical turf war that is so prevalent in medicine.

It's just evident from the numbers there is a lot of Rx-abuse going on, from many sources.

[infinite monkey]

Oh, I know no evil intended. I was just running thoughts through my head, from the perspective of a long-term SSRI taker.

I am sure, like any profession, there are 'bad' and 'good' doctors. I think the difference is that a doctor prescribing oxycontin and the like all willy nilly presents much more danger to the patient than a doc maybe over-prescribing SSRIs. Except for finding out that young people are certainly not good candidates for that mode of treatment, and the occasional suicide from someone who is on an SSRI (which, we don't know how far gone, how likely they were to do so anyway) SSRIs are relatively safe. You don't feel a high, nothing happens instantly, it's a slow move back to utilizing the chemicals your brain needs to fire correctly. I wouldn't take them recreationally, that's for sure.

Just foods for thoughts.

[Undertoad]

Also, once diagnosed, the meds are no longer needed to be prescribed by a psych-doc. Maintenance goes to the family doc. I was diagnosed and spent the first year under a psych-doc, but I was a waste of his time by the end.

It's just evident from the numbers there is a lot of Rx-abuse going on, from many sources.

One notices that the words "just evident" were decided upon with only one piece of actual evidence.

[Trilby]

just another two cents in: in my area of the state it's really tough to get in to see a psychiatrist. First appointments can take up to six months and that's IF they will take you on. A Big "IF"

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

<snip>
One notices that the words "just evident" were decided upon with only one piece of actual evidence.

I do admit to bias here.
In very small part it comes from events in my own family
when my grandson was put on Rx followed by new issues of suicide.
But for the most part my comments came
from the cumulative of the published CDC report.

My OP also showed my bias against the ubiquitous TV drug ads.
Here is one journal report I found by one google search
I've re-arranged their findings on "consumer beliefs" for clarity.

Please note, where this "research" was published,
and the lack of acknowledgment of the funding source.

Marketing Health Services
Peyrot M et al.
Loyola College, Baltimore, MD, USA.

ABSTRACT
This study examines the impact of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising
on prescription drug knowledge and the requesting behavior of consumers.
The authors developed and tested a conceptual model of prescription drug knowledge and requests.
<snip>
"Drug advertising" - is associated with
~~ More drug knowledge - is associated with
~~ ~~ More specific drug requests
~~ ~~ Belief will result in lower prices

Less drug advertising - is associated with
~~ less drug knowledge - is associated with
~~ ~~ patients would upset their physician
~~ ~~ belief that physicians should be sole source of drug information
~~ ~~ less probability of specific drug requests - is associated with
~~ ~~ ~~ preference for generic drugs

CONCLUSION:
Media exposure and drug advertising awareness were associated with
higher drug knowledge and a greater probability of drug requesting.

So what to conclude is the purpose of TV drug ads ?
I would re-word their Conclusions, based on their results as:

Media exposure and drug advertising awareness were associated with
higher (specific, proprietary) drug (awareness) and a greater
probability of (specific, proprietary) drug requesting.
.