The cumulative results of the brain's chemical effects are not well understood. In the 1989 edition of the standard Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, for example, one finds this helpful formula: a depression score is equivalent to the level of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol {a compound found in the urine of all people and not apparently affected by depression}; minus the level of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid; plus the level of norepinephrine; minus the level of normetanephrine plus the level of metanepherine, the sum of those divided by the level of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid; plus an unspecified conversion variable; or, as CTP puts it: "D-type score = C1 {MHPG} - C2 {VMA} + C3 {NE} - C4 {NMN + MN}/VMA + C0." The score should come out between one for unipolar and zero for bipolar patients, so if you come up with something else-you're doing it wrong."
( Andrew Solomon )
[ The Noonday Demon ]
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