So which are you going with; psychology is magic, depression has some "cure", I mean you aren't making sense.
I suggest you go back and read my first post. My position is very consistent.
The main point is that with something so biologically complex as the brain, characterizing something like depression as always solvable through one method is too simplistic. Sometimes depression is based on environment; it takes exercise, healthy eating, hobbies, and so forth, and these can be cultivated. Other times, it may be a chemical imbalance. Other times, it may be something far more complex within the most complex structure we know to exist.
Proposing that depression is always solvable through changing one's feelings is like proposing that Windows 7 should be able to run correctly in any and all hardware conditions through any sort of damage. Likewise, it would be unwise to say that a computer hardware technician has to be called every time Windows 7 runs into a problem; there could be a much simpler fix and nothing wrong with the hardware.
Straw man, never said such a thing. Again, why not just compare depression to a severed limb? And if you think thoughts, reconditioning, etc are not still physical in the brain then I certainly do not feel like the new ager here.
I know you never said such a thing. That's my point. That it's not consistent to assert that some parts of the body run into problems that require medical intervention to fix while other parts of the body can always be cured with right behavior and thinking.
Social acceptability does not affect science. It has been shown that things like behavioral therapy, meditation, etc can help us control our minds and even change how the brain is working.
Yes, it shows that some problems are resolvable through those means. It by no means shows that all problems are resolvable through those means.
Oh, so you
do think you can heal a failing kidney with thoughts...
Nice avoidance.
No, I'm pointing out that your example was subtly self-refuting, because you asked whether the person should use pain meds or cope with the pain but already made the a priori assumption that back surgery was necessary. As in, it's something that clearly needed medical intervention.
Nobody is claiming a fix. But you can learn to manage and cope. You're making depression out to be some sort of brain massacre, it's not scrambling wires on the motherboard, it's chemical imbalance. We can do things to affect such chemical.
I guess you think that scientifically backed suggestion that working out helps depression is new age pseudo-science? I mean, working out won' t grow back a limb either, silly hippies.
Depression is not one thing. There are several types of depression affecting millions of people, and some of them result in nearly opposite symptoms. Neuroscientists haven't even begun to explain depression other than pointing out certain correlations. To propose that it's always a chemical balance is misleading.
The brain is the most complex structure known to exist. To propose that a person can cultivate happiness on their brain regardless of any biological state it's in, would be to unfairly stigmatize people that, much like a failing kidney, do indeed have a biological problem that requires some sort of medical intervention to resolve.
