The myth about a chemical imbalance in your brain

This is a long one because it’s my pet peeve!

I’ve been moved to talk about depression a bit more fully lately. I am a particularly strong advocate for getting people off antidepressants. You will find another post here on this blog with some hard facts about antidepressants. Plus, I am also qualified in the Rewind Technique, links to some statistics here from a study. It can be used for depression as well as phobias and PTSD.

I had recently watched Dopesick on Disney+ which illustrates how a pharmaceutical company named Purdue targeted doctors and encouraged them to prescribe OxyContin for even the mildest of pain. This led to an opioid crisis in America of unprecedented proportions. Crime increase, overdose increase, addiction sky-rocketing. There is now a similar drama called Painkiller on Netflix. They both make for fascinating and terrifying watching.

OxyContin was marketed as ‘the one to start with, the one to stay with,’ which is pretty horrific. I am a little concerned that antidepressants are heading down this same route, if they haven’t already. As if the taking of them is inevitable and ongoing.

The fact that pharmaceutical companies such as these are out there with no interest in making you well, just keeping you as a consumer? Remember, nobody profits from an improvement in your circumstances except you and the people who love you. And that is not me being a conspiracy theorist, because I really am not.

What I am is somebody who was routinely prescribed antidepressants at age 12, having the experience of being marshalled from one kind to another over the course of significant chunks of my life, with no improvement in the cause of depression until I sought it out for myself aged 38 (clue: the answer wasn’t an antidepressant.)

Transcribed for you here is some dialogue from a factually based drama, ‘The Girl from Plainville.’ Which is about the death by suicide of a young man named Conrad, and the subsequent trial of his girlfriend Michelle, who is accused of encouraging his successful attempt.

poster advertising the girl from plainville drama series

Conrad is taking Celexa (Citalopram) for Social Anxiety and Michelle is taking Prozac (Fluoxetine) for Anorexia.

We are introduced to the character of Dr Breggin. Expert witness and psychiatrist who studied the psychophysiology of anxiety, with a sub-specialty in clinical psychopharmacology. Which he describes as the study of the effects of drugs on the actual, clinical, real-life behaviour of people.

When asked to define serotonin, he says that serotonin is a neurotransmitter that originates deep in the brain. It affects judgement, love, empathy.

(Personal Note: Actually, the majority of your body’s serotonin is produced in the gut, which is why I believe it is important to eat well to fight depression. Good quality protein spread over your 3 meals per day and weaning off sugar. Sugar is a major factor in depression/low mood/blood sugar highs and crashes. Caffeine moderation helps too. It’s all about getting stable.)

The Dr Breggin character goes on to say, ‘When serotonin is naturally created by the brain, these receptors fire.’ (indicates the area towards the front of the brain) ‘And the idea behind people who are depressed or angry, is that maybe the feed to the receptor gets backed up. The brain isn’t doing its job. The SSRI, like Prozac, and all SSRIs, blocks the removal of serotonin. And unfortunately, this is very unstable. Because the brain reacts to this as a toxic intrusion.’

divider image separating sections of text

(Lawyer) And how does the brain react to this toxic intrusion?

(Dr) After the first dose even, the brain stops producing serotonin.

(Lawyer) So instead of creating a clear pathway for the serotonin to enter the brain, Prozac and other SSRIs can actually halt the natural production of serotonin entirely?

(Dr) Yes. It’s possible.

(Lawyer) Does the FDA identify the SSRIs in a specific way?

(Dr) They developed a black box warning that remains the highest level class warning for all of these drugs.

(Lawyer) Does Celexa have a black box warning?

(Dr) Yes it does.

(Lawyer) And do you know specifically what the black box warning is on Celexa?

(Dr) The black box warning specifically says that there’s an increased risk of suicide in people aged 24 years and younger.

How much more vague could it be?

I would like you to note how when the actor playing this learned professional is defining the way SSRIs work in the brain of people with depression, he uses words such as, the idea behind, maybe, and possible.

This isn’t because this is a character in a drama. Or that it is being dumbed down so we can understand it. This is because the real-life, highly intelligent, well-educated people, just don’t know the real effect of antidepressants in the brain.

I was told when I was young that ‘my depression’ was due to a chemical imbalance in my brain. Which is the classic argument that is trotted out.

This theory of chemical imbalance in the brain cannot be disproven, because it was never proven in the first place. There is no evidence to support it as a fact.

And being told something like that is deeply wounding. Because it throws the fault back onto you. Like it’s a defect of birth. As if it’s something you have done to yourself. Something, in turn, that you are doing to the family. When the truth is that something has happened to you. There is a fault there that does not belong to you. And we can discover what that is through RTT.

Being reminded and intrigued by this courtroom scene sent me off to look for an article on what the current thinking is about this concept of depression being a chemical imbalance in the brain. Had they found any new conclusive evidence in the meantime? After all, I was told this junk at 12 years old, which is nearly 38 years ago now.

Probably is in the damn title!

I found this article insightful: https://bit.ly/depressionisprobably

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Joanna Moncrieff and Dr Mark Horowitz (both UCL Psychiatry) report on their new research showing no clear evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression.

a sign points to answers 1 kilometer away

Within the article is this statement:

For three decades, people have been deluged with information suggesting that depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain – namely an imbalance of a brain chemical called serotonin. However, our latest research review shows that the evidence does not support it.

Also, very interestingly, peppered within this article, are more uses of words like: proposed, promoted, may contribute, appears to support etc. rather than clear specifics. The damn title of the article says probably not!

It is also clear that chemical imbalance in the brain was promoted to doctors by the pharmaceutical industry.

It also says that one in six adults in England are currently prescribed antidepressants. Are the patients really the ones benefitting from that?

The purpose of my somewhat passionate writing here is not to say absolutely do not take antidepressants, and I am not saying to come off them right now either. What I am saying is that nobody should take them blindly. And I would also set yourself some kind of deadline for when you want to be off them. Don’t let this go on forever.

Is this what people getting the right help say?

If your doctor prescribes antidepressants for you, ask him/her, ‘what is the timeline for getting me off these things?’ And if they can’t say, then ask them why not. Tell them you want a plan for their use, duration, and when and how you can expect to be weaned off them. They are a tool and not a solution. They are simply something that may, and the emphasis is on may, help you while you find the real solution.

If they have not had the outcome you determine as success, by the time the deadline you have set has expired, then I urge you to consider that they weren’t the solution in the first place. That something happened to you that you need help with.

Antidepressants are a coping measure, not a curing measure, in my honest opinion. And I have taken plenty. All the kinds you can think of. including ones that made me rigid with panic, filled my days with thoughts of suicide. As well as some that wrecked my libido, made me sick to my stomach, made me fat, risked my blood, and my heart, and I have no clue what repercussions I may experience one day down the line from that. Because they just don’t know.

I recently joined a depression group on Facebook to see if I could add anything valuable and to get a sense of what people were coping with. This group might just as well have been a pro-suicide group. As all involved are just perpetuating their negative self-talk and reaching out to others to validate it.

The kinds of things they are saying are:

‘No one cares about how I feel... Should I give up or keep pushing?’

‘I can't do this anymore. I wish I was not born… I destroyed everything... I hate my life...’

‘I'm having suicidal thoughts and there's a time that I almost killed myself. Depression, stress and sadness eating me already. Even though I tell my problems to people, I won't still get better. Even though I watch motivational/inspirational videos, I won't still get better either. Negative feelings are most dominant to me. You know what? I just live here, nothing else. I just go with the flow. Though I don't even know what's even my purpose here, I don't even know my talents (cause they said that everybody has a talents) I don't even know my blood type, I don’t know my wants. I don't know who I am.’ (this is transcribed verbatim)

How many of these people, do you think, are on antidepressants right now??

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know?

If one in 6 adults in England are on antidepressants, how many are worldwide??

That’s quite the money-making industry.

The person there above, that mentions they don’t know their wants or their purpose is actually telling you, right there, one of the major causes of depression. Not knowing your purpose. And we can find that with RTT.

When I was looking for a title for this blog post, I googled ‘the truth about antidepressants.’

The first three results it generated for me were:

‘how we got hooked on antidepressants’
‘most people on antidepressants don’t need them’
‘antidepressants might be largely ineffective; study suggests.’
(again, that kind of, ‘might, maybe, possible, suggests,’ kind of thing)

So, are you ready to stop being a bystander in your own life? In your own wellbeing? Are you sick of drugs and feeling rubbish, sluggish, defeated?

RTT works beautifully for depression. Because it is safe, non-traumatic, does not require you to repeatedly and consciously evaluate every traumatic incident you ever had, over and over again.

It’s fast. Even depression can be treated, usually with one session, but no more than 3, depending on how much support you need. Most people even enjoy the process. How many people could actually say they enjoy psychiatric help? How many people have spent thousands and thousands on private therapists, if they even had that money to spend?

You have the power to make good choices in the depression scenario. It’s not a hopeless, nameless, faceless demon. It has a cause. And we can find out what that is together. It’s exciting. And if you are so over antidepressants, and the many and varied side-effects, including emotional numbness, and the nausea, and the loss of libido, and the weight gain, then we can get you strong and get you ready to be weaned off them.

And, by the way, you need to be weaned off them, because they have altered your natural brain chemistry. They have caused you a chemical imbalance in your brain for real.

Ready to start?

With lots of love and belief in your ability to beat depression - Anne-Marie x

About Me

Hello, I’m Anne-Marie. I am a RTT Practitioner, Romance Author, Championship Dog Show Judge.

I have a lot going on! But my primary focus is helping people achieve their personal and professional goals, whatever they may be. If you’re struggling, I am the kind of person you want in your corner.

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