What’s wrong with the current model of mental health?

What is wrong with the current model of mental health? It’s a good question.

I would answer the current model focuses on illness and disease, rather than mental wellness.

To date there is no good evidence showing a chemical imbalance causing your symptoms. In fact over several decades of research, psychiatrists have failed to demonstrate that people with common psychiatric diagnoses have a biochemical imbalance in the brain. But this idea is so deeply ingrained in our psyche that it is often difficult to question it- especially when talking to health professionals.

We are fortunate in Australia to not have the Direct-to-consumer-advertising campaigns that revolve around the claim that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) alleviate depression by correcting a deficiency of serotonin in the brain. But, other countries- such as America, do. An example is Pfizer’s advertisement for Zoloft which states that ‘depression is a serious medical condition that may be due to a chemical imbalance and that Zoloft will correct this.’ Advertising or not- these drugs are prescribed as a first line of defence, and I argue they should be the last.

There is not a single peer-reviewed article that can be accurately cited to support claims of serotonin deficiency in any mental disorder. Also, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not list serotonin as the cause of any mental disorder. The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry addresses serotonin deficiency as an unconfirmed hypothesis, stating ‘Additional experience has not confirmed the monoamine depletion hypothesis’. And yet the medications prescribed apparently correct this ‘imbalance’.

How would psychiatrists have any idea that someone has a chemical imbalance? Blood levels of serotonin for example, don’t reflect brain levels. So, any idea that mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance is simply a hypothesis. There is no consistent evidence that there is any biochemical abnormality in people diagnosed as depressed and this spans across all symptoms of mental illness.

A question to ponder; when you were diagnosed did your doctor or psychiatrist show you lab results? Of course not. They simply had you list symptoms and they consulted the DSM for a diagnosis.

Were you asked what your dietary habits are? Questions like; do you get enough vitamin D and vitamin B12, do you consume omega 3 fatty acids, do you eat fermented food, take probiotics or magnesium supplements are crucial for a diagnosis. Were you asked if you experienced childhood trauma, or feel you could suffer PTSD? Were you asked about your sleep hygiene, or exercise routine? Were you encouraged to be curious about your symptoms and explore modalities that could assist you to go deep and heal old wounds? I would make a bet that for most of you the answer is no.

One thing I really want to drive home is that you do not have a broken brain- it is the system that is broken, and it’s time to escape that system.

Click on the button below to learn why medication is not always the answer.