Chris Kyle dead.

[bwaites]

I have also seen the studies that show that eating salad daily, and daily exercise have the equivalent positive effects on combating depression and common mental illnesses, without the side effects. The common side effects of switching or going off the meds are in fact, homicidal and suicidal thoughts, among others. We've become a society of pill-popping and push-button solutions, rather than logical approaches that were part of every-day life before the post-industrial fantasy-land era we live in.

Actually, the common result of severe depression, PTSD, and anxiety is/are suicidal/homicidal thoughts. Its why the first question we ask as medical providers is whether they feel that way! Untreated severe depression almost always leads to suicide, unless the person enters a vegetative state, which I've seen in State Institutions. I certainly don't disagree that Americans want an answer "right now" and that other approaches may help. However, I doubt that a healthy diet and exercise would have helped this Marine. The vast majority of Marines I've met (and SF guys) are exercising pretty vigorously, and that doesn't seem to protect them.

I also have a major problem with the theories behind the administration of psychotropic medications, since they follow the established school of thought that the brain can be manipulated with chemistry "balance", when the most recent studies with advanced Electroenecphalography indicate a completely different nature to the organ, that should have made radical shifts in the neurosciences towards electroneurophysiology, but did not.

The brain is easily manipulated with chemistry, as any high schooler smoking dope or drinking alcohol can attest! The practice of medicine is still a balance between art and science. We'd love to find a "cookbook" that worked in every situation, but it isn't going to happen in our lifetimes.

The University of Michigan has been at the forefront of this research, using real-time 3D imaging of brain electrical function, and were able to to see a phenomenon occurring between the synapses that takes electro-chemical connector theory in a totally different direction, but that hasn't been pursued. I read about it in The Scientific American while in Europe, and have followed-up with the UoM, but can't get the article. Basically, it concluded that over 92% of what happens between the synapses is an energy that doesn't register with any of the standard instrumentation that would register on the electromagnetic spectrum, but its effects can clearly be seen in real-time.

It should have launched a new era in neuroscience, because its implications have vast considerations to be studied and processed for decades to come. The reality is that professionals within the neuroscience community haven't even heard of it, at least none of the ones I have asked. It should have been breaking news of the century for every brain surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, and neurological researcher.

Forgive me for not trusting the "double-blind" studies issued by Merck. After what I've seen in that industry, I would go outside to check if they told me the sky was blue.

You don't have to trust them. But using Youtube videos to demonstrate your point is hardly confidence inspiring when it comes to what you do trust.

The truth is that we are barely scratching the surface in mental health. But for every patient with some horrible side effect, I can produce 2 from my own practice that will tell you how much better their life is because of modern medicines and their use.

The learning curve is steep. Discounting some of the steps on that curve doesn't help the people who need them.