The myth of the chemical cure

Taking a pill to treat depression is widely believed to work by reversing a chemical imbalance. Medication is a mainstay of mental health therapy, But in this week’s BBC Scrubbing Up health column, Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, of the department of mental health sciences at University College London, says taking pills for mental health problems is no solution, they simply put people into “drug-induced states”.

Although ideas like the serotonin theory of depression have been widely publicised, scientific research has not detected any reliable abnormalities of the serotonin system in people who are depressed.

It is often said the fact that drug treatment “works” proves there’s an underlying biological deficiency.

But there is another explanation for how psychiatric drugs affect people with emotional problems.
It is frequently overlooked that drugs used in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs, like alcohol and cannabis.
Psychoactive drugs make people feel different; they put people into an altered mental and physical state.

They affect everyone, regardless of whether they have a mental disorder or not…. Continue reading

Source: BBC News