What Causes Mood Disorders Anyway?
Pages 130 to 134: This section of the chapter is a summary of material presented in much more detail, with many photographs and drawings to help you “get the picture”, on my website. Start with the second half of the Brain Chemistry of Depression story, from mini-chapter 6 about how brains reshape themselves. Page 137: A well-known mood expert suggests, partly in jest, that doctors “plug their ears with wax” (invoking the story of Ulysses)… In this part of Homer’s Odyssey, the Greek hero ordered his men to tie him to the mast of their ship, then plug their ears with wax. They were to sail past the island of the Sirens–nymphs whose song was so sweet, they caused sailors to turn toward their island and crash upon the rocks. Ulysses wanted to hear the song, but protected his men and his ship until they were past. The analogy thus suggests that doctors partly attend to (Ulysses) and partly ignore (the men) their patients’ pleas for a focus on depression — my interpretation. Page 137: A
