Homocysteine & The Depression Imperative
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.
~ Ernest Hemingway
Dr. Andrew Farah is a forensic psychiatrist, a psychopharmacologist, the author of a remarkable new book, Hemingway's Brain, - and an all-around deeply interesting guy on many levels. In this interview, our second after our first delightful Hemingway's Brain CBJ/114 discussion, is again most entertaining, and prescient regarding the brain awareness changes today taking place in both our society and our neuroscience community. Here Dr. Farah dives from the commanding precipice of brain injury, art, and history into the deep caverns of neuroscience: brain molecular physiology.

This Depression Imperative encourages more precise thinking with more predictable outcomes for treatment failure on many levels. Here we start with depression.
Brief Bio
Dr. Farah is a native of Charleston SC and now serves as Chief of Psychiatry at the High Point Division of UNC Healthcare. This report addresses fresh details regarding the homocysteine theory of depression [1], and the use of reduced B vitamins for depression and neuroprotection, particularly the prevention of dementias.  Yes, he's a neuroscience expert as well.

The standard of care for depression in those distant Hemingway years dramatically differs from today. Today we know more about multiple causes of depression and, as Dr. Farah so articulately reports, the biology of brain deterioration for a complexity of biologically relevant nutritional contributions that mushroom into depression over time. Homocysteine presents a fresh marker, a depression imperative for all of us working with mind science.
Farah's 2 CBJ Episodes: A Mix of History, Art, Metaphor, and Reality
Dr. Farah's depression imperative lessons go beyond just memorable - to transcendent. Mark down this interview as also unforgettable. - Thanks, Andy. And, if this is your first meeting with Dr. Farah, fasten your seatbelts for a curious journey with a commonplace blood test with standard, insurance supported, testing protocols.
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Dr. Farah Reports On The Homocysteine Depression Imperative

* My curiosity started in residency around the subject of Treatment Failure  
* Our depression treatment protocols haven't changed since 1957 
* Why consider homocysteine in the first place
* What happens when we lower homocysteine
* The Prozac paradox and the alpha-2 receptor
* What happens to the building blocks for monoamines
* Reduced B Vitamins and the specific pathways 
* The specific nutrient supplements involved
* Why 5-MTHF didn't work so well
* The problem with Lamictal for Bipolar II
* My thoughts on homocysteine measurement/values
* Why brain cells die in the first place
* Closing on the epigenetic contributions as well

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Previous CBJ Interviews on Trauma, Stress, TBI, CTE, and Depression

* CBJ Veterans Page - http://corebrainjournal.com/vets - Updated regularly
* CBJ/Dr. Bill Walsh on Methylation Details - http://corbrainjournal.com/025 Our most frequently downloaded Episode.

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Dr. Farah's Helpful Bonus Download
Theory Into Practice -
Addressing the Homocysteine Basis of Depression
At this Link