Reply to What's wrong with me - help me please. (I'm angry...)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I work in mental health and I always cringe when people use the chemical imbalance line. Fine if you have a simplistic understanding and need to call it that to differentiate it from being a character flaw but from a professional. I cringe. Chemical imbalance isn't used in the health field in talking about mental illness. As others have said it was a theory that had two intentions - decrease stigma by making mental illness physiological (even if oversimplified and not correct) rather than personal flaw, and 2) to sell medications that 'fix' chemical imbalances. [/quote]

Thank you. I'm not a mental health professional, but I also always cringe when people throw out the "chemical imbalance" argument in order to give the impression that all you need to do is pop a pill. Diet, however, isn't the answer either.[/quote]

I am the poster you are responding to and I agree diet can't cure depression, although health living choices (diet, exercise and decreased stress) are all important in recovery and managing any illness. I also don't want to sound like I am anti-meds. I am not. They play a useful role for some people with depression and in many cases are worth a trial to see if they lead to decreased symptoms, higher functioning, and more motivation to engage in other treatment options. They are not a cure-all or fix all though and about 40% of people with depression don't get any positive response from taking an anti-depressant. We have a very rudimentary understanding of the causes of mental illness compared to many other illnesses and the neurobiology of mental illness is in its infancy although much further ahead then a few decades ago. The medications we have now primarily target symptoms in the hopes of alleviating them but they don't address the root causes. [/quote]

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