Lived Experience Forum

[Fredd50]

Thanks @nashy 

And thanks for the help with the moderation on this thread it has been genuinely tricky to figure out how to respect everyone's sensibilities.

But with regards to the "chemical imbalance" notion. It is not something for which there is evidence, there never was evidence.

There was evidence for the correlative association of various biochemical pathways with certain experiences. But there was never any evidence that there was a "chemical imbalance". Ever. It's not even a cohesive scientific concept. The article I posted is one example of how the Psychiatric community was critcised for misinformijg the public and even other professionals who didn't have a fine grasp of the science involved.

The evidence that was found could equally have been indicative of clues as to the underlying mechanisms of certain experiences. But underlying mechanisms are not causation, they are mechanisms. It's like a bike riding up the hill, the mechanism might be viewed as the chain pulling the gears around thus turning the wheels. But it wouldn't make sense to say that if you ride your bike up a hill to buy a litre of milk that the cause of this was the chain turning the gears of your bike wheels.

Dopamine has also  been associated with REM sleep and makes this a great deal of sense as many people describe their experiences with metaphor, walking in story or other meaningful experiences as being like a waking dream. Association of particular  neurological pathways mediated by certain neurotransmitters with particular mental states doesn't indicate pathology, but mechanism.

Furthermore such association is far from a "chemical imbalance" but the activation of certain pathways which were never the whole story and only indicated a tiny piece if the puzzle in the great mystery that is being human.

I didn't click on the links provided but I did want to point out that the fact that the "chemical imbalance" metaphor was promoted by certain organisations and individuals is exactly what is being criticized: it was never a substantiated scientific theory and never could be. Our brains are not beakers full of chemicals. And the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The reality is that the "chemical imbalance" is at absolute best a gross oversimplification and a metaphor. Given that it has been genuinely used to misinform patients, professionals and the public alike it is a serious issue. Unfortunately belief in a "chemical imbalance" as a literal fact is an example of cognitive dissonance.

It makes me feel sad and angry at the people who knowingly spread misinformation. Most people don't have a scientific education and they trust and rely on people they look up to as teachers or professionals to tell them the truth. The misrepresentation of science in this field is very upsetting, but it isn't going to get better by not admitting there is a problem.

That's what I liked best about the article I posted: that it acknowledges the need to recognise what has been done so we can grieve and move forward. By continuing to deny that harm has been done, unfortunately we continue to do harm.

Unfortunately misinformation has been a big part of this field. And it is difficult to know who has knowingly spread misinformation or who has genuinely believed and spread it in good faith. But people can not make informed choices and we can't consider which practices should be ditched entirely if we don't acknowledge what is evidenced and what is not. And we can't heal trauma, or prevent endemic abuse, discrimination or exploitation without acknowledging it happened and continuing to echo the behaviour that caused and propagated it.

Nobody has, not have they ever had a "chemical imbalance" in their brain, that is "corrected" by medication. And that has never been a substantiated causal theory for broken social norms. It is not even a coherent statement, what exactly is a "chemical imbalance" supposed to be? 

To be honest I'm scared to click on the links you posted because if they are still spreading the "chemical imbalance" myth I will be depressed and I don't want to be.

We are Psychosocial creatures, with underlying Biological mechanisms. These mechanisms where genuine are interesting and relevant. But they don't exist in isolation and shouldn't be simplified.

Here is a paper I found really interesting and hope you do too. We regulate not only our own neural activity via Psychosocial means but that of others too. Human beings are incredibly social animals, there is huge scope for healing that we keep not exploring because of economic factors.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hyperscans-show-how-brains-sync-as-people-interact/

/www.scientificamerican.com/article/hyperscans-show-how-brains-sync-as-people-interact/

There is a lot more evidence around this. Our brains are so Psychosocially determined that a child raised by dogs until age 3 has a brain that was a noticeably different shape to that of typical three year Olds. After he got access to programs to restore his development to a usual human path, his brain did not look particularly different to his contemporaries (see Bruce Perry "The boy who was raised as a dog...")

To say that there was never any such thing as a "chemical imbalance" is not to say that brains and bodies and their Biological goings on don't play a fundamental part in the great and complex concert of experience

It is just emphasising that the "chemical imbalance" theory wasn't about recognising the great concert of experience. It was about reducing and repressing it to some kind of spontaneous "Biological malfunction" which had to be "fixed". And allowing p or even encouraging public, patients and professionals to believe this misinformation, putatively because a lot of people made a lot of money out of it or saved themselves from embarrassment ,loss of reputation or market share once they were entrenched in this model.

It would be one thing if the professions would admit and recognise wrongdoing and misguided or even  greedy behaviour in some cases (many were actually paid quite substantially to do this, others made a lot of money from the way in which the simplicity bid "chemical imbalance" and it's promises of quick and easy fixes  facilitated by technology captured the public imagination . If they were to reflect, find humility and seek truth and reconciliation, that would be a good start but unfortunately mainstream  Psychiatry & other "medical model" propenebts haven't, instead it tries to rewrite history, which is further insult to injury and gaslighting for victims. The first step towards healing is admitting that wrong was done and harm was caused, the second is ensuring that it is never done again.

Without the first of these steps, the second is impossible.

It really is very upsetting because harm continues to be caused the more that truth reconciliation and healing are postponed. 

As with all situations such as these, we need recognition and truth to move forward.