One time at a ladies retreat, a woman went up to the speaker and claimed that God delivered her of a mental illness and gave her meds to the speaker who immediately held them up and announced that this woman had been healed. It scared me and I thought that wisdom would have had the speaker tell the woman that that was wonderful but before she went off her meds to please speak with her doctor and pastor.
One time at a ladies retreat, a woman went up to the speaker and claimed that God delivered her of a mental illness and gave her meds to the speaker who immediately held them up and announced that this woman had been healed. It scared me and I thought that wisdom would have had the speaker tell the woman that that was wonderful but before she went off her meds to please speak with her doctor and pastor.
Absolutely! Some of those meds can cause seizures if one stops taking them suddenly. But then again, I suppose if God healed, He'd take care of that too.
However, just like with any illness or disease, it's good to claim healing, but see a doc to get the confirmation.
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But there is. Parkinson's, for instance, is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. There is no blood test or lab test to prove it. It's diagnosed based on symptoms alone.
Is Parkinson's really a chemical imbalance or is it a neurological disorder?
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How do you think they come up with SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) medications? It's not a lucky guess they are taking. SSNI's (norepinephrine) meds are the same way. These meds are also proven to work or they wouldn't be so widely used.
Again, there is no way of testing a live human being for chemical imbalances in the brain. I reject the entire "well, the medications work so there must be a chemical imbalance" argument.
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I do agree, however, that testing is not accurate, but it's that way for almost every disease. Multiple sclerosis isn't diagnosed sometimes for several years after the first symptoms are seen. There is no blood or lab test. It's diagnosed based on symptoms alone.
Actually, an MRI is used to diagnose multiple sclerosis. Allow me to quote from the 2007 edition of Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment: "Multiplesclerosis should not be diagnosed unless there is evidence that two or more different regions of the central white matter have been affected at different times. A diagnosis of clinically definite disease can be made in patients with a relapsing-remitting course and evidence on examination of at least two lesions involving different regions of the central white matter. The diagnosis is probable in patients with multifocal white matter disease but only one clinical attack, or with a history of at least two clinical attacks but signs of only a single lesion."
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Muscular dystrophy and other illnesses and diseases that are controlled by chemicals and/or nerve impulses cannot be accurately diagnosed by a blood or diagnostic test. They are diagnosed by symptoms alone.
Not true. An increased AST may be indicative of muscular dystrophy. There are specific genes associated with muscular dystrophy.
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Heart arrhythmias are many times caused by a chemical imbalance. Correct the imbalance and the arrythmia goes away. The difference here is, there is a blood test for it, however, some arrythmias have nothing to do with chemicals, so even if the imbalance is corrected (should one exist), the symptoms continue.
Again, there is no test for chemical imbalances in the brain. And cardiac arrhythmia is an irregular heart action caused by physiological or pathological disturbances in the discharge of cardiac impulses from the sinoatrial node or their transmission through conductive tissue of the heart.
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Most of medical science is a lucky guess. That's why they call it 'practicing medicine'. It's not an absolute science, but it is fact that people suffer from illnesses and diseases and they must be dealt with.
Mental retardation, autism, and Asperger's are just a few of the brain disorders in which diagnosis is made upon symptoms, not blood or diagnostic tests. Most often, people with these afflictions are put on psychotropic meds to control their behaviors that result from their illness.
Mental retardation can be diagnosed through intelligence testing. As for autism (of which Asperger's is a form), there are objective clinical signs. Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders, 3rd Edition, Table 6-1 lists the DSM-IV criteria for autism:
A. Qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interaction
1. Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. Markedly impaired expression of pleasure in other people's happiness
4. Lack of socioemotional reciprocitySocial interaction-based disabilities
1. Lack of modeling/imitation (DSM-IV A1, A2)
2. Lack of drive for peer affiliation (DSM-IV A2)
3. Lack of social reference or only use of instrumental reference (DSM-IV A3)
4. Lack of response to social reward (DSM-IV A1, A4)
Is Parkinson's really a chemical imbalance or is it a neurological disorder?
It's a chemical imbalance that causes neurological problems.
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Again, there is no way of testing a live human being for chemical imbalances in the brain. I reject the entire "well, the medications work so there must be a chemical imbalance" argument.
You can reject it, but it's still fact. You can't test rabies on a live person either, but it's fact that meds can take care of the symptoms without testing.
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Actually, an MRI is used to diagnose multiple sclerosis. Allow me to quote from the 2007 edition of Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment: "Multiplesclerosis should not be diagnosed unless there is evidence that two or more different regions of the central white matter have been affected at different times. A diagnosis of clinically definite disease can be made in patients with a relapsing-remitting course and evidence on examination of at least two lesions involving different regions of the central white matter. The diagnosis is probable in patients with multifocal white matter disease but only one clinical attack, or with a history of at least two clinical attacks but signs of only a single lesion."
This is a recent development. I know personal friends of mine with MS who weren't diagnosed that way. Two of them have since died. However, they don't even think about MS being a diagnosis sometimes for several years after symptoms first develop due to the complexity of the disease. Hopefully this is changing.
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Not true. An increased AST may be indicative of muscular dystrophy. There are specific genes associated with muscular dystrophy.
It also may be indicative of liver problems. Not exact science (an oxymoron, BTW), is it?
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Again, there is no test for chemical imbalances in the brain. And cardiac arrhythmia is an irregular heart action caused by physiological or pathological disturbances in the discharge of cardiac impulses from the sinoatrial node or their transmission through conductive tissue of the heart.
Do you know what causes those disturbances in many cases? A chemical imbalance! Eat 20 bananas a day for about two weeks and see what your heart does because of too much potassium.
In other cases, the chemical imbalance is the result.
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If it's just guessing, it isn't science!
Science isn't exact. It's mostly theory and guesswork that happens to be correct when tested most of the time.
Medical science is the same way. We test and theorize and research and test some more until we get the optimum results.
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Mental retardation can be diagnosed through intelligence testing. As for autism (of which Asperger's is a form), there are objective clinical signs. Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders, 3rd Edition, Table 6-1 lists the DSM-IV criteria for autism:
A. Qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interaction
1. Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. Markedly impaired expression of pleasure in other people's happiness
4. Lack of socioemotional reciprocitySocial interaction-based disabilities
1. Lack of modeling/imitation (DSM-IV A1, A2)
2. Lack of drive for peer affiliation (DSM-IV A2)
3. Lack of social reference or only use of instrumental reference (DSM-IV A3)
4. Lack of response to social reward (DSM-IV A1, A4)
Chan, exactly what is your argument here? You argue that some things are wrongly diagnosed because there is no lab or diagnostic testing that is done to accurately diagnose something like mental illness, then you quote the DSM with criteria for diagnosing mental illnesses!
That same DSM also lists the criteria for diagnosing ALL mental diseases and illnesses. As I said, in agreement with your stance, there is no lab or diagnostic test that proves those illnesses, yet there are criteria to accurately diagnose those problems.
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Chan, exactly what is your argument here? You argue that some things are wrongly diagnosed because there is no lab or diagnostic testing that is done to accurately diagnose something like mental illness, then you quote the DSM with criteria for diagnosing mental illnesses!
That same DSM also lists the criteria for diagnosing ALL mental diseases and illnesses. As I said, in agreement with your stance, there is no lab or diagnostic test that proves those illnesses, yet there are criteria to accurately diagnose those problems.
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