Sandra Gandarez
May 2, 2009
Neurobiology and Behavior

Depression – What exactly is it? Why does one medication not work for everyone, if it is the same thing in everyone? What do antidepressants do?

If you were depressed, what would you do?  Talk to a friend?  Tell a therapist?  Ask a psychiatrist for medication?  Learn meditation?  Begin practicing Buddhism?

All of these are normal reasonable responses to depression.  However, there are many more potential reactions based on religion, medicine, and individual preference.  Some are better researched, cheaper, safer, more private, or more socially acceptable in a given society.  It is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a complete list of treatment options and their relative merits.  The purpose of this work is to discuss one specific alternative remedy for depression, its neurobiological and psychological mechanism of action, horseback riding. 

In their book “Animals Make Us Human,” Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson raise and attempt to answer the question: “what does an animal need to be happy?” (1).  They discuss the state of household pets, animals used in food production, and wildlife.  Their primary focus is the mental state of an animal inhabiting a human manipulated environment.  In order to measure an animal’s mental state, they assume a specific relationship between the brain and behavior.

The definition and origin of knowledge is a complexquestion that cuts across many academic disciplines, including Psychology,Education, Philosophy and Biology. Many questions are raised.  Where does knowledge come from?  Do our brains truly create new knowledge or simply reproduce what we have seen, been taught and experienced?