Nice post, Thank you for sharing you article. It is normal for the us to be depress sometime because it is our way to cope with particular stressing situations. But long term depression is unhealthy and can lead into some mental problems. Management is the best and first thing to do to cope up with depression, and if having difficulties. Medication are also given to those depressed individuals. But with the prescription of the doctor.

Thank you for posting. Hope to hear from you soon.

I agree with your view. Management should definitely be the first phase of any treatment for anxiety or depression.

Meds can work for some but people should limit their use of drugs and try to deal with the stress in their life in order to find a good balance.

Great article and I agree with it!

I have had neurotransmitter testing done to figure out which transmitters were giving me trouble. This is a relatively new test and although it’s not perfect, it’s useful. For example, they found that I actually have a really great amount of Seratonin (hence SSRI’s giving me nothing but loads of side effects). They also found my norepinephrine to b really high, hence my horrible anxiety anxiety disorder. Is this a chemical imbalance- no. It’s simply proof of what is going on inside my brain and what is not. Useful to know when trying to treat an anxiety disorder.

I think they are getting closer to perfecting these types of tests and hopefully will soon be able to tell what type of drug (if any) can help your condition so that you don’t have to go through the pains of trial and error. I sure hope they hurry up on this, seems like they should know it by now.

Kelly,

Thanks for the information. What is this test called?

I’m glad to hear that researchers are at least working on a test to determine if anxiety and depression are caused by chemical imbalance.

It may be some time before these test prove highly effective but good to hear that some progress is being made.

I think it would do wonders to eliminate all the guessing that currently goes on when it comes to diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders.

Paul,

The test is called a neurotransmitter test.
Although the test does not reveal if you have anxiety or depression, it does give you the data about your neurotransmitters and other brain stuff (like hormone levels, etc). This test doesn’t tell you specifically if your anxiety/depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, rather it simply gives results for a clinician to deduce what may or may not be causing some of your issues.

For example, my test revealed that my neurotransmitters (norepinephrine and epinephrine) were VERY high and “excitable” (firing too rapidly). One could deduce that this being present could explain anxiety symptoms or a disorder. However, there is no reason to think this is chemical. What is occuring in my brain could simply be the result of having untreated anxiety disorders my whole life along with the behavioral aspects of an anxiety disorder, and things like how I was raised, etc. This factors can change the brain and it’s functioning…thus creating a situation like I have- which in my opinion is not a chemical imbalance, but rather the effects of what i listed above impacted my brain.
These tests will improve. Like I mentioned they are working on one to determine if you do have a chemical imbalance of some kind, and if so what (if any) medication would prove helpful with that imbalance. I think however that this alone is not the key to recovery- it lies in lots of cognitive behavioral work as well. My thoughts are that the individuals behavior along with other external factors are what cause these things in the first place, then the mind/body change as these issues continue.

Sorry for the lack of spell/punc. check- I got a baaad headache today!

This post concludes by saying that there is no test to check for serotonin deficiency. Yet, in this post’s case-in-chief it argues that serotonin depletion is most likely not the cause of depression, anxiety, and the likes. WHICH ONE IS IT? If there is no reliable test for serotonin deficiency how do you know it’s not the cause? Scientists use a multitude of ways to determine if something is true. When scientists don’t have the means to test for 100% conclusive proof they often use inferences to make informed guesses about something. I’m not a master of reason by any means but a classical example of inductive inference might look something like this- Major Premise- “Despite a lack of reliable tests to actually determine Serotonin depletion, scientists have identified the affect natural and non-induced serotonin depletion has on the body.” Minor Premise- “when test subjects are given Paxil, the known effects of natural serotonin depletion subside in test subjects.” Conclusion, “Paxil probably helps people who are suffering from serotonin depletion.” What’s wrong with that logic? It is the logic this country uses to put people to death in the electric chair; shouldn’t that be good enough to help someone with depression or anxiety?

The problem I have with this post is that although the author acknowledged biological contribution to anxiety, depression, etc., the author trashes the use of drugs that help so many people’s lives (I’m not sure why the author trashes it other than a desire for “100% conclusive proof”). Social Phobias can ruin lives, literally debilitating people to the point of refusal to leave pedestrian jobs (for fear of having to function further in the public eye), refusal to begin a romantic relationship, the refusal to go out to a dinner, the refusal to sing a song, the refusal to let their heart free; you get the point. People can spend years in a psychologist’s office trying to get to the “root” of their problem, while they rot away in their miserable existence. Ultimately, my point is that psychiatric medicine has shown to have more benefit than harm on so many peoples’ lives. Therefore, why would this author post an essay insulting the good these drugs have done without offering a solution? I believe that we should be gracious and happy for what science has been able to do for these people, instead of cynical and judgmental.

Hey John,

Thanks so much for your impassioned comment. I do appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Many of the points you made were good, but I wanted to add some to the discussion.

You cited the fact that we use inductive logic to execute folks and that as a result we can safely use the same logic when it comes to anxiety treatment. However there is a problem - innocent people get executed all the time because of this type of logic.

The death penalty debate notwithstanding sometimes you simply need a little more when it comes to treating mental illness because of the stakes i.e., people sometimes kill themselves because of medication even if this is not the intended result.

You also stated that I trash drug use well not really. What I said is that drug use helps some people and not others. If it helps you then have at it. I never promote the non-use of drugs I simply caution people to be fully aware of side effects and possible pitfalls of drug use.

Have drugs helped many people, of course (like I pointed out in the post and the podcast) but is it for everyone? Of course not.

With respect to the serotonin and whether or not it is the cause of anxiety - well in my view this is unknown. What’s wrong with acknowledging this fact? Science is still working and making strides toward an answer but lets not fool ourselves - we just don’t know, all good guesses aside (but respected).

And believe me I’m not a cynic, I believe in science and the scientific method. I just distance myself from jumping on the bandwagon too soon.

Our society is highly addicted to drugs and what I’m saying is that we should explore all options when it comes to anxiety treatment and not make assumptions.

I usually get comments like this from people who have been helped by drugs, and I’ll say it one more time, if drugs help you - wonderful.

But lets not suppose that because it helps you that it will help all.

I always say, whatever it takes to feel better as long as it is SAFE and legal.

Jim Carry’s and Tom Cruise’s opinions don’t hold any water because one is an anti-vaccinationists and the other is a sciencetologist.

You compared these psychiatric medications to “carpet-bombing antiobiotics” that ultimately harm humans. I’d say that’s a pretty harsh comparison; harsh enough for me to say that you “trashed” the medication.

In regard to a major premise in your argument where you mentioned the harm these drugs do… I understand that you find the isolated incidents of harm that these drugs as an important consideration; I even agree with you to a very limited extent. However, I believe in utilitarianism (i.e. that the most important consideration is the good/benefit to the whole of society/the masses/the group). Your argument is retributivist in nature (i.e. less concerned with the benefit/good to the society as a whole and more concerned with the individual harms that are caused). Are you familar with an old common law case called Dudley and Stevens? A few guys on a lifeboat had to resort to murder/cannibalism to stay alive. The Court found them guilty of murder. Alot of people struggled with the verdict because people felt that these guys were heroes. They thought, “wasn’t it better that only one guy was killed than all of them perish at sea?” As laws and culture evolved, utilitarism became a stronger goal in our society and is often the strongest consideration in the Model Penal Code. Therefore, when you say that alot of people are put to death who are innocent that may be true, but isn’t that better than having a bunch of murderers running around the streets simply because the prosecutor couldn’t find more than circumstantial evidence?

In regard to the medication we are discussing, I’d rather save 99 lives and have 1 person commit suicide then let all 100 people live in misery and torment. Furthermore, I’d also like to see a study done regarding suicide rates of people on these medications v. people who are depressed in general. Or even further, the suicide rates of people who need help with severe depression/anxiety but are refused psychiatric medication or given a placebo; if you compare that suicide rate you might find that less suicides are occuring on the medication (That would be a pretty ballsy study- considering what’s on the line, i.e. death/suicide). When you’re dealing with a sect of society that is screwed up mentally you’re obviously in a much higher suicide risk-rate. Therefore, is it these drugs that are causing the suicide or is the already-significant mental problems they are coming through the door with? Who knows? If you know of a study that answers these questions I’d love to see it, plus I think it would boost the credibility of your argument.

MWM,

Thanks for the comment. In response I just wanted to say that just because you disagree with a persons position on one or even many issues this does not mean that they should be discounted for all things and forever more.

Hey John,

Again you made some excellent points. But, in my humble view, there is simply no right or wrong on this issue. People have to do what is best for them.

The possibility of conducting a study such as the one you suggested would be very interesting and I will most definitely keep my eyes open and write about it if I ever get the chance.

Best wishes.

John: “Drug companies are misleading the public” That is the understatement of the year. They purposely mislead both the consumer and the doctors whom they get to ‘pitch’ their products for them. All in the name of the mighty buck. Sad indeed.

John-
You can have a test to see what your seratonin level is- I’ve had it.

Kelly,

Can you tell me the name of that serotinin test? And the contact info of the doctor that gave it to you so that I can track down that test and get it for myself? Did it help you. Did it show that you had low serotonin. THanks so much for the info.

Jessica,

This was a really helpful artical and it saved me alot of time. I spent hours on the web looking for answer anout my depersonalization disorder. The only thing that I could come up with was a chemiacal imbalance in my brain. Well i did find out that anxiety is caused by stress and negative thoughts(constantly) and depersonalization is caused by anxiety. So I realized that The chemical inbalce is probably caused by the anxiety which is caused by stress. So in other words if I stop stressing, become more possitive, and take vitamines daily then I should be good to go!!

I recently found an amazing site that has a completely radical, and unbelievable theory on what causes mental disorders. Not only that but it essentially says it can explain hundreds of other diseases that there is no known cause of. http://www.quizdoc.com/

if you are interested in alternative theories to stuff like depression or anxiety i think that the above site is well worth a read