There soon could be a new way to cure what ails you. Scary, but many people mistake shooting as a remedy for depression. This proves to be a messy treatment, though, and always ends up hurting more than helping. But to the depressed, death looks like a wonderful medicine. They'd rather face their eternal fate than another day in which the sun rises only to burn them.
Scientists say depression is linked to the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine.
All of the pharmaceuticals on the market target theses brain chemicals, but almost 20 percent fail. According to the current issue of Science, P is a neuropeptide, a small protein that helps nerve cells communicate. MK-869 works because it blocks P, thus regulating the transfer of negative emotions. Though this experimental drug promises to be a medical breakthrough, testing showed that MK-869 improved depression no more effectively than the popular antidepressant Paxil. But MK-869 causes far fewer cases of sexual dysfunction.