3 ms·
> There is no such thing as "chemical imbalance". Why do many, many doctors say there is? It seems they, of all people, should know what they are talking about
by stronglikedan 7y ago
> There is no such thing as "chemical imbalance".
Why do many, many doctors say there is? It seems they, of all people, should know what they are talking about.
- scotty79 7y agoNot really. Doctors are trained to recognise symptoms and match the therapy to the symptoms. They of course know mechanism of some (well understood) afflictions. But many are not that well understood and yet therapies for them exist that help some patients with those symptoms. Then when asked about the causes or the mechanism doctors just act like all humans do. They repeat rumours they heard.
- tomhoward 7y agoI suspect pharma companies and doctors have settled on the term "chemical imbalance" so they have something to tell patients that is simple enough to understand but medical-sounding enough to accept. Also, general physicians have to be across such a vast range of ailments and treatment options, they don't have much ability to deeply understand the issues themselves. I'm not one for any great conspiracy behind this. For my own reasons I've researched the topic deeply, and I agree that the term "chemical imbalance" is fairly shaky, but I can accept a fairly innocent explanation for why it's come to be.