Chemical imbalance myth and biopsychiatry links

**this post is part of the drop-down navigation menus. It’s been designed to help navigate the archives of this website.

A theory that is wrong is considered preferable to admitting our ignorance. – Elliot Vallenstein, Ph.D.

Beyond Meds and anyone who’s actually paid attention to the science for the last many years has known that the serotonin myth about depression and how antidepressants work has no evidence to back it up whatsoever.

Embracing this critique doesn’t mean there is no biological factor to that which gets labeled mental illness…we are holistic beings, so of course there is biology involved too. What it means is the answer does not lie in the biological reductionism that psychiatry most often espouses and makes up stories about. Everything matters. Until we start attending to the individual as part of the whole of life, intertwined with everyone and everything, we’ll continue to harm.

This page has a collection of links that speak particularly to the idea that mental illness is NOT best explained via a chemical imbalance in the brain:

The chemical imbalance myth (mental health): by Chris Kresser
Chemical imbalance myth takes a big public fall – large collection of links from both this site and others around the internet with documentation and further commentary. A very popular post and a good resource to share with people who aren’t familiar with this idea.
Depression is not a disease
“The chemical imbalance theory of mental disorders was disproven long ago”
Bipolar Medication Myths — Joanna Moncrieff MD
An Interview with Joanna Moncrieff: The Myth of the Chemical Cure
The Chemical Imbalance, Genetics & Biology of Bipolar Disorder: Myths of Psychiatry
Biopsychiatry: a critique
Do psychiatrists understand psychiatric drugs?  
Psych drugs and brain injury, antipsychotics and brain shrinkage
Chemical imbalance, huh?
Ten Myths about Depression and Psycho-Pharmacology

Do people recover and thrive after being told they cannot by psychiatry? Yes we do. All the time.

*it is potentially dangerous to come off medications without careful planning. Please be sure to be well educated before undertaking any sort of discontinuation of medications. If your MD agrees to help you do so, do not assume they know how to do it well even if they claim to have experience. They are generally not trained in discontinuation and may not know how to recognize withdrawal issues. A lot of withdrawal issues are misdiagnosed to be psychiatric problems. This is why it’s good to educate oneself and find a doctor who is willing to learn with you as your partner in care. Really all doctors should always be willing to do this as we are all individuals and need to be treated as such. See: Psychiatric drug withdrawal and protracted withdrawal syndrome round-up

For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page.

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