> none of the drugs have been linked to physical/chemical shortages in the brain or the like That's certainly not true. These things aren't understood very we

> none of the drugs have been linked to physical/chemical shortages in the brain or the like That's certainly not true. These things aren't understood very well, but it's not at all true that there's NO understanding of how brain chemistry and mental illness interact. > It can seriously mess someone's life up. In general drugs for bipolar are prescribed only once someone's life is already "messed up". You seem to be invoking something like the hippocratic oath, but please believe that's already a solid criteria in medicine. These drugs are prescribed because they are known to work (no, not always and not with any certainty, but that they work is not meaningfully disputed).