2 ms·

I had the same reaction. The phrase "chemical imbalance" can't die soon enough. I've met some very smart people who were misled into thinking there's much more

by waprin 4y ago

I had the same reaction. The phrase "chemical imbalance" can't die soon enough. I've met some very smart people who were misled into thinking there's much more scientific evidence than exists that there's some innate brain chemistry that's linked to mental illness. In general, people overestimate how much of psychiatry is first-principles instead of black box statistical conjecture. The first huge hint that there's no simplistic chemical imbalance explanation is they don't measure any brain chemicals when they do psychiatric diagnosis. Furthermore, when people discuss "chemical imbalance" they're almost always talking about something innate and unchanging e.g. I'm depressed because of a chemical imbalance, not my lifestyle. When there's actually a ton of evidence that to the extent there's chemistry in your brain, your lifestyle and things like your food diet and information diet play a massive role. I will recommend this guy in way too many comments here but if you haven't heard of Andrew Huberman, please listen to his podcast, it's been life-changing. He gives tons of lifestyle tips and backs up all his arguments with his decades of experience in neuroscience.

hirvi74 4y ago
> they don't measure any brain chemicals when they do psychiatric diagnosis They do not measure anything in my experience. They just take an educated guess at what will fix your issues based on heuristics, and then just wait to see if you love/hate whatever they gave you. If what they give you did not work, then on to the next option until something works or all options are exhausted (which they usually just send you off to a different professional). As I grow older, I am more convinced that psychiatry is more of an art than a science. Tangential: I used to listen to Huberman, but over time I started to dislike his podcast more and more. I think he is a phenominal researcher, and I think his intentions with his podcast are good, but it seems like he just reads off various cherry-picked studies without actually linking them (that I could find) and without any mention of important details in the studies e.g. sample sizes, methodology flaws, implicit/explicit biases, etc.. He claimed 14% of pregnant mothers use cannabis in the US, but from what I have read of others' ventures into this claim, no one can find any information to support this claim. I also remember his episode on ADHD, and how effective fish oil can be for treating some of the symptoms in ADHD. However, in my own reading of various research articles, I have found that there is quite a lot conflicting information pertaining to the purported benefits of fish oil (in regards to ADHD). But of course, he did not mention anything about the research that did not fit the supplement narrative... But don't forget to use the code "HubermanLabs" for a discount on your purchase of Athletic Greens though.
- jmcgough 4y ago
  > As I grow older, I am more convinced that psychiatry is more of an art than a science. There's a bit of an educated guessing component to it, but mental health professionals are starting to use genetic testing to take some of the guess work out. Psychiatrists go through the same four years of medical school that other doctors do. This gives them a broad enough background to help diagnose other diseases that have psychological symptoms.

by waprin 4y ago

hirvi74 4y ago

> they don't measure any brain chemicals when they do psychiatric diagnosis They do not measure anything in my experience. They just take an educated guess at what will fix your issues based on heuristics, and then just wait to see if you love/hate whatever they gave you. If what they give you did not work, then on to the next option until something works or all options are exhausted (which they usually just send you off to a different professional). As I grow older, I am more convinced that psychiatry is more of an art than a science. Tangential: I used to listen to Huberman, but over time I started to dislike his podcast more and more. I think he is a phenominal researcher, and I think his intentions with his podcast are good, but it seems like he just reads off various cherry-picked studies without actually linking them (that I could find) and without any mention of important details in the studies e.g. sample sizes, methodology flaws, implicit/explicit biases, etc.. He claimed 14% of pregnant mothers use cannabis in the US, but from what I have read of others' ventures into this claim, no one can find any information to support this claim. I also remember his episode on ADHD, and how effective fish oil can be for treating some of the symptoms in ADHD. However, in my own reading of various research articles, I have found that there is quite a lot conflicting information pertaining to the purported benefits of fish oil (in regards to ADHD). But of course, he did not mention anything about the research that did not fit the supplement narrative... But don't forget to use the code "HubermanLabs" for a discount on your purchase of Athletic Greens though.

jmcgough 4y ago
> As I grow older, I am more convinced that psychiatry is more of an art than a science. There's a bit of an educated guessing component to it, but mental health professionals are starting to use genetic testing to take some of the guess work out. Psychiatrists go through the same four years of medical school that other doctors do. This gives them a broad enough background to help diagnose other diseases that have psychological symptoms.